Nathaniel's Nutmeg — Giles Milton

Milton tells the story of the English attempt to secure a share of the East Indies spice trade in the early seventeenth century, centred on the island of Run — a tiny source of nutmeg whose possession was considered worth trading Manhattan. The book is a microhistory of colonial violence, commercial competition, and the extraordinary human cost of the spice trade, told with novelistic detail and without romantic illusion. The English lost Run, but the Dutch — who got it — lost New York. The exchange haunted both empires for decades.

'One of the most gripping works of historical non-fiction I have ever read. Milton is a master of the microhistory.' — The Times. 'A remarkable book — part adventure story, part colonial horror, entirely compelling.' — Sunday Telegraph