The drowning room

the long version

Gretje Reyniers is one of the unacknowledged mothers of New York - whore, moneylender and pelt dealer when the city was still a tiny, hardscrabble colony of the Dutch. She left a formidable impression in the records of colonial New Amsterdam, but these are hardly more than a catalog of petty crimes. So in this vivid and haunting novel, Michael Pye sets out to imagine her whole, back to her wild, indomitable self. Part history, part love story, part memoir, filled with startling imagery, this is an unforgettable account of a woman who was once lost in dusty records - and now is restored to her extraordinary life.