Maybe it is typical of a Ken Follett novel that characters tend to be villains or heroes, to be two dimensional and typecast, because he mostly uses his characters as props to move his plotline swiftly along.
In this novel set in London in the 1870s, the background is of how the big banks rose in fortune and influence and power, and how the banking families grew fabulously rich, richer even than the aristocrats with their inherited wealth. The novel provides quite a pleasing depiction of London and England of this period, its class system, its social conventions, its morals. It is also fun to read about the underpinnings of the financial system that made London a hub of global finance, which it has managed to retain to this day, albeit in a slightly more compromised form.
The fictional banking family of the story is the Pilasters, who are conservative, honourable, and self made in terms of wealth. They can afford to keep their families in a state of luxury and to lavish expenses on carriages, gowns, parties, jewellery, and houses. Curiously, property was not at that time apparently regarded as a good investment. Nor did the family diversify its wealth; all their money was bound up in a single bank, their own. Follett indicts the banking industry of their exploitative nature, while depicting its partners as men who take pride in being honourable and gentlemen:
“Here more than anywhere Micky envied the Pilasters. Their wealth and power was proclaimed by every detail: the polished marble floor, the rich panelling, the hushed voices, the scratch of pens in ledgers, and perhaps most of all by the overfed, overdressed messengers. Al this space and all these people were basically employed in counting money, the Pilaster family’s money, No one here raised cattle, mined nitrates or built railroads; the work was done by others far away, The Pilasters just watched the money multiply. To Micky, it seemed the best possible way to live now that slavery had been abolished.
There was also something false about the atmosphere here. It was solemn and dignified, like a church, or the court of a president, or a museum. They were moneylenders, but they acted as if charging interest were a noble calling, like priesthood” (p199-200).
Follett makes the story interesting by having the black sheep of the family, Hugh Pilaster, the most capable and resourceful banker of London; while the heir to the throne in a manner of speaking, Edward, son of the then Senior Partner of the Pilasters bank, is dissolute, lazy, stupid. Hugh is naïve and credulous on top of being upright and clever, so the plot can proceed apace with Hugh seeming never to suspect the treachery of those seeking to undermine him.
And who may those be? Enter the villains: Micky Miranda, Edward’s bosom friend in Windfield school, son of a land and cattle owner in Cordova, the opposite of Edward in so many ways, being handsome, conniving, sexually magnetic, ruthless. In an incident in school where a school boy dies, Micky wins Edward’s mother’s patronage and loyalty by covering up for Edward. He insinuates his way into the Pilaster family, which pays for much of his expenses, as well as provides him the means to stay out of Cordova, which he means to do at all costs, terrified of his father and his brother who ill treat him there. Follett writes of Micky Miranda like a fox in a chicken coop; he masquerades as a gentleman, but breaks every unwritten rule of the gentry, and for a long time, gets away with it precisely because his status protects him so far. His biggest protection, however, is the dependent but rich Edward, whose mother, Augusta, is a matriarch and seemingly intent on aggrandizing herself and her son at all and any costs. Micky is useful to Augusta, and Augusta uses her status to protect Micky in a symbiotic relationship, which Follett also infuses with a lot of sexual tension not withstanding the fact they are of different generations.
On the other hand, Hugh is not our only heroic figure, there is Maisie too, the star crossed love of Hugh’s life. Maisie was a ‘dollymop’ – the slang of the day for escorts and good time girls (‘unfortunate woman’ was the euphemism for prostitute), who captured the heart of Solly Greenbourne, son of another powerfully rich, Jewish, banking family. Solly was also in Windfield school – Follett correctly provides a very British backdrop where everyone in a position of influence and power seems to have attended the same school. It is slightly stretching the truth perhaps that Maisie rises in society so flawlessly as to become a friend of the Prince of Wales; but this is the kind of novel that often does sacrifice a bit of credulity and/or verisimilitude to plotline. Maisie and Hugh are deeply attracted to one another, but of course, many obstacles must needs bar the way to true love. Beginning with Aunt Augusta, Hugh’s aunt and Edward’s mother, but many more subsequently.
Desperate deeds are done in the story, to preserve status and power, but even more so out of fear and desperation. The plot twists and turns in the rise and falls of fortune of various members of the Pilaster family, and of the bank. Micky ties up the Pilaster destiny with that of his own family’s destiny. The novel is swift moving, and for most part, well paced. It is a fun read, without being particularly admirable.
A Dangerous Fortune
Ken Follett
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