The Golden Grasshopper: A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham

"The Golden Grasshopper: A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham" by W.H.G. Kingston is a historical story that throws you into the tense world of 16th-century Europe, seen through the eyes of a Dutch boy named Ernst Verner. After becoming an orphan because of religious persecution against Protestants in the Netherlands, Ernst finds himself in England under the protection of the powerful merchant Sir Thomas Gresham. The story kicks off in Antwerp with high stakes and cruel treatment, painting a picture of the dangers and hardships people faced during the Protestant Reformation and the Inquisition. Ernst deals with the trauma of losing his parents and seeing the suffering around him. Moving to England offers him a new beginning, but the book suggests he will still face challenges both in his own life and because of the religious and political conflicts going on in England at the time.