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Today: "The Great Game" (on youtube)

already available in 12 languages: german, french, italian, spanish, dutch, czech, bulgarian, brasil, korean, russian and also as german audio book, braille. Worldwide filmrights sold

Short summary:  

In his colourful historical novel, set in 17th century England and France, Claude Cueni tells the story of the man who invented paper money and stock trading, John Law of Lauriston.

Claude Cueni – THE GREAT GAME (Das grosse Spiel)

A summary of excerpts from the press

„A brilliant masterpiece!“ (histo-couch.de)

„Cueni is the shooting-star on the hot market for historical novel. His gripping thriller about the invention of paper money is a highlight of the genre.“ (Sonntagszeitung)

The book that can do everything. Simply great.. I love Cueni. His sharp mind, his precision, his curiosity are just plain fun, his sense of humour combined with his superb sovereignity and his Helvetic dryness are endearing. (Weltwoche)

„To educate, to entertain and to move – this is Claude Cueni’s motto. (...) Readers will see how learning can become sexy: when it is wrapped in thrilling stories of money, power and chronic movements of the loins.“ (Der Stern)

„You simply must read this!“ (Radio Basilisk)

„It’s „The Perfume“ of money and the historical novel of this season.“ (Sonntagsblick, Zurich)

Do you know Claude Cueni? No? But he is the most successful Swiss author. Skillfully, Cueni writes about the New Economy of the 18th century. "The Great Game" is an exciting tale of how a bankrupt society sets out on a jorney to find a new economical order. Swiss Television SF1)

„At refreshingly fast pace, the author tells an exiting episode in the history of economy for reading pleasure in a chair on the beach.(Wirtschaftswoche)

„Told fluently, easy to read, this is great reading with a lot of historical facts and brilliant dialogues. Cueni knows how to develop suspension and how to keep it ... to the last page.“ (Facts)

„A gripping thriller.“ (Star TV)

„A great achievement. Skillfully told and gripping to read.“ (Schweizer Familie, „pick of the week“)

„Swiss writer Claude Cueni has penned a thrilling novel along the historical facts of the life of the financial genius, gambler and lover John Law. Powerful in its use of language and often explicit in its descriptions, this book depicts the unique period of change at the brink to Enlightenment. Cueni’s novel combines historical fact, the theory of economics and a wild tale of adventure to achieve perfect joy of reading.“ (Handelsblatt, Duesseldorf)

„Bankers are boring and financial derivatives a curse of modern times? Those who thinks so should read THE GREAT GAME. (...) Never has the history of today’s financial system been told as excitingly as here.“ (Welt am Sonntag, Hamburg)

„Suspensful and rich in links to the world of today.“ (Focus, Munich)

„A successful mix of fiction and historical facts and an exciting study of genius, madness, human greatness and stupid vice.“ (NDR/ARD, German TV)

„Highly readable and at the same time a great description of what it must have been like to be living 300 years ago.“ (Bilanz, Zurich)

Claude Cueni – THE GREAT GAME (DAS GROSSE SPIEL)
Heyne, Munich: August 2006
448 pages,

THE GREAT GAME tells the true story of a man who walked the thin line between reason and passion.

Claude Cueni’s epic historical novel tells the story of John Law, the most glamorous man of his time. A legendary lover, a brilliant mathematician and a gambler, John Law put aside the gambling cards to test his theories on an entire country.

Born in Edinburgh in 1671, John Law lost his father’s inheritance as a young man at the gambling table. Good-looking, charming and adventurous, many women fell victims to his power of seduction until, finally, their husbands cheered when John Law killed a man in a duel and had to leave England for Europe. During his travels across a continent that has been destroyed by decades of war, John Law came up with a system that allowed the dwindling resources of metal money to be replaced with paper. But Louis XIV saw no merit in the wild ideas of that young Scottish protestant. But then the Sun King died and his decadent successor, the Duke of Orleans, became Prince Regent. Impressed by modern experiments, the Duke couldn’t resist the idea of reducing France’s enormous debts by simply running a printing machine. He made John Law Minister of Finance who then founded the Banque Royale and tested his „system“ on an entire population: paper money was invented, the trade exploded, the masses turned rich over night, and John Law became the world’s first „millionaire“, the wealthiest man of his time. The Duke of Orleans, however, couldn’t get enough of a good thing. Neglecting his banker’s advice, he printed money to meet the financial demands of his extravagant way of living. The first new economy collapsed, the bubble burst, the people were quick to blame one man: John Law.

Rich in historic details, fast paced and erotically charged, THE GREAT GAME is the everything that readers of good historical novels are looking for.

Claude Cueni has written crime series for German TV, plays, mystery novels and the novel CAESAR’S DRUID that became a bestseller in Germany, Italy and Spain. He lives near Basel with his wife and son. His website is: www.cueni.ch

Review (excerpts)

DIE WELTWOCHE, Zurich: 1 February 2007

THE BOOK THAT CAN DO EVERYTHING

by Reinhardt Stumm

„The Great Game“ by Basel born author Claude Cueni about a finance genius is simply great. Perhaps, this is why it doesn’t fit into the usual pigeon holes of fiction genres.

John Law of Lauriston, the main character in this unbelievable but true story is a historic figure. He was (according to the publisher) the greatest monetary theorist of all times. Born 1671 in Venice, he died 1729 in Venice. He was an offspring of Scottish aristocracy, the son to a banking family.

How do you turn this material into a novel? You can ask Claude Cueni. Between breakfast and brushing his teeth he has written more than fifty TV and movie scripts. Now, he has turned to writing historical novels. „Caesar’s Druid“, published in 1998, has sold tens of thousands of copies internationally. Last fall „The Great Game“ came out. It has gone back to press three times and is being translated into four languages. Well, again: how do you turn such material into a novel? You can turn a biography into literature, into the story of an idea that reflects the personality of a character. It would be easy to tell this story in a straight plot, with dark secrets and according to proven methods: one part would be understandable to everybody, other parts only to the author, some to nobody. This would invite criticism about an author who cares mostly about himself. But, after all, you can turn a man’s biography into a historical novel. There is an awe-inspiring mix of facts and legends surrounding the life of John Law that would lend itself beautifully to an author who wants to rely on his fantasy rather than research. And, who would want to prove him wrong? John Law’s biography is also the story of a family – the difficult attempt of living together during a time that made family life hard, if not impossible. You could base a psychological study on Lord Lauriston’s life – it would become the story of an „idée fixe“ that gouverns a man’s life who was obsessed by a theory, a highly gifted gambler who risked his life for his conviction. You could write the biography of a man who single-handedly founded France’s first National bank as an financial thriller. Also, this is the story of a man who was convicted of murder and remained a fugitive for the rest of his life. It’s the biography of an early capitalist whose foundation of the Mississip society in 1717 made him the owner of half of the Americas – albeit only briefly. In 1720 a financial crisis, caused by the incapable Prince Regent Duc d’Orléans, lead both the country and Monsieur Law to the brink of disaster – with Law turned into a scapegoat. Now, that would be a wonderful oportunity for any author to talk about human vanity and the decay of social values. It would be an adventure novel – but it would also mean to trespass the boundaries of what is permissible. Our author would have to follow his own ambitions, a path that is usually denied to literary writers since the 18th century when literary writing was no longer supposed to educate. Entertainment was left to lowly hacks of mainstream fiction.

(...)

I haven’t forgotten Claude Cueni. No, quite the opposite: I’m ready to defend him. Years ago, I enjoyed „Caesar’s Druid“. I was enchanted by „The Great Game“. And I know why. Not least, because it’s a love story, even though charmingly disguised. Cueni loves John Law. And I love Cueni. His sharp mind, his precision, his curiosity are just plain fun, his sense of humour combined with his superb sovereignity and his Helvetic dryness are endearing. And, not least, because all the possibilities that this life-story has on offer can be found in the book – no mean feat! He really knows how to pull it off. You could recruit an army from this novel’s characters – every single member of this army would be unique. What he can’t know I am now going to tell him: he bashes Montesquieu around the head, he steps on Daniel Defoe’s feet – this is so entertaining that I forgot to ask, if it’s also permissible. But, I think, whatever can be done may be done. Horace demanded: „aut prodesse volunt aut delectare poetae aut simul“ – either educate, or entertain, or both. There you go!

Set during a time of great upheaval and change, THE GREAT GAME (DAS GROSSE SPIEL) is a fictionalized retelling of the life of John Law, the famous inventor of paper money. A Scotsman by birth, a brilliant mathematician, card player and womanizer, John Law of Lauriston got himself involved in a fencing duel which landed him in a London prison. He escaped to Paris where his modern ways were quite opposite to those of Louis XIV. In Venice, Law invented the State lottery and made a fortune. After the demise of the Roi de Soleil, Law was admitted back to Paris where he finally turned his economic theories into reality.

After 30 years of war, and huge poverty Europe was finished, but ready for change. As a result, thousands of Frenchmen turned rich over night. John Law became the world’s first „millionaire“. But not for long: people’s greed and a fair amount of stupidity caused this economic bubble to burst. John Law, a true tragic hero, was exiled to Venice, leaving his family behind in poverty and despair. John Law was the epitome of the great adventurers who, against all odds, laid the foundations to what we now call the Age of Reason. (Mohrbooks)

Historical Figures

in the world of John Law of Lauriston

John Law of Lauriston	John Law of Lauriston	John Law of Lauriston	John Law of Lauriston
Daniel Defoe	Samuel Bernard	Crozat le Riche	Argenson
Louis XIV.	Duc de Saint-Simon	Duc d'Orléans	Claudine

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