The Coffee Trader

Alferonda sets the story into motion. Excerpts from his “Factual and Revealing Memoirs” frequently appear at the end of chapters, giving additional plot details and insight from his point of view.

Like Miguel, Alferonda is a Portuguese Jew. He is a “rounded fellow with a wide face and large eyes hidden beneath a thick beard of slightly graying black” (57). Despite his unimpressive physical appearance, he has cultivated a persona of intimidation, and he is feared by many.

Alferonda’s father was one of the “Secret Jews” who studied clandestinely in Lisbon during the Inquisition. He was also an accomplished trickster who taught young Alonzo many tricks of the trade. The Alferonda family escaped Lisbon and the Inquisition thanks to a tip from Miguel.

In Amsterdam, Alferonda makes an enemy of Solomon Parido when he sabotages his Setubal salt deal. The Ma’amad charges him with illegal brokering, and Alferonda is excommunicated, at which point he begins a new profession as a usurer. Though he has an aversion to actual violence, Alferonda actively spreads rumors that he will harm or even kill those who don’t repay their debts to him. Alferonda blames his life of crime on the Ma’amad’s decision to cast him out of the community: “They chose to treat me like a villain. What choice did I have but to become one in earnest?” (68).

Geertruid is a pretty Dutch widow in her mid-30s. While not the youngest or most beautiful of the ladies in Amsterdam, she nevertheless has “an illicit charm about her” (10). Though she enjoys laughing and drinking in the taverns, “in matters of business she was as serious as any man” (15). Geertruid enjoys flirting with Miguel, but she never allows their relationship to go any further than that. In public she is always accompanied by Hendrick, who protects her and does her bidding.

When Miguel realizes that Geertruid has lied and kept secrets from him, he decides that she must be conspiring against him and working for Parido, and so he plots against her. Eventually Geertruid reveals that she and Hendrick are thieves, and in fact they are the real-life Charming Pieter Goodwife Mary from the pamphlets. However, she never plotted against Miguel; rather, she partnered with him because she judged him a shrewd businessman. Though financially ruined by Miguel, Geertruid takes responsibility for what happened, saying, “It is my doing. I put you at risk” (373).

In debt to Alferonda, Geertruid and Hendrick escape Amsterdam. As Miguel watches them leave in the darkness without a lantern, he thinks, “If ever a woman lived who could outwit the thieves and the Night Watch, it was Geertruid Damhuis” (374).

Hannah is the wife of Miguel’s brother Daniel. She is a “pretty thing with a quick mind” (62). Hannah was raised Catholic in Portugal and discovers her Jewish ancestry just before she is married. Now, as Daniel’s wife in Amsterdam, she is required by the Ma’amad to follow the strict Jewish laws.

Pregnant and lonely, Hannah’s only companion is her servant Annetje. Annetje takes Hannah to pray at a Catholic church, and from then on Hannah is beholden to her, lest Annetje reveal her secret to Daniel.

Hannah’s marriage to Daniel is loveless. She and Miguel share a mutual attraction, and the few pleasures in Hannah’s life include spending time with him and drinking his coffee. As time goes on, Hannah sheds her timidity and speaks her mind. For example, she tells Miguel that she believes women should be allowed to learn to read and to study. He thinks, “How this woman had changed. His coffee had turned her Dutch” (319) before presenting her with a book.

Eventually Hannah takes her fate into her own hands when she tells Daniel her baby is Miguel’s. Her gamble proves successful, and upon Daniel’s divorce, she and Miguel marry.

Hannah’s Dutch servant, Annetje has a “pretty smile, a sweet temper and sea-green eyes” (41). She convinces Hannah to accompany her to the Catholic church. Hannah soon realizes that this gesture of goodwill is merely a manipulative ploy.

Though she appears sweet on the outside, Annetje is ruthless. She demands that Hannah keep her secrets and threatens to tell Daniel the truth if she doesn’t. Highly observant, Annetje sees that Miguel and Hannah share a mutual attraction, although they never act on it. Annetje does have an affair with Miguel, but there is no affection between them. When Annetje discovers that Miguel gave Hannah a gift, she flies into a rage and moves out of the house.

Confronted by Miguel, Annetje says that while she worked in Daniel’s house, she was paid by Geertruid to spy. However, she was really working for Alferonda.

Solomon Parido is a wealthy merchant, a devout Jew, and a member of the Ma’amad. He dresses in the traditional, colorful style of the Portuguese. He has “wide shoulders and a muscular frame, a rugged face with dull eyes” (50). There is a sadness about him, possibly because his only son is “addled in the head” (50) and his wife cannot bear more children.

Parido and Alferonda share a mutual dislike; according to Alferonda, “I found him too sour; he found me too ebullient” (36), and eventually they become bitter enemies. Parido and Miguel’s mutual dislike stems from Miguel’s broken engagement to Parido’s daughter Antonia. By contrast, Parido is good friends with Daniel, who ironically is much less devout than Miguel.

Parido offers to make amends with Miguel, who suspects that Parido is plotting against him. In reality, Parido is only interested in making a profit for himself, not destroying Miguel, and his trading tips are sincere. Although Miguel proves victorious in their battle over the coffee trade, Parido is not ruined, and he continues to be welcomed among the prominent Jews in Amsterdam. After all, a “man such as he, so invested in his power, could not hide from defeat. He would show his face publicly, demonstrate to the Nation that his little losses were nothing to him” (366).

Miguel’s younger brother Daniel is “thin like the elder Lienzo, all hard angles and sharp corners, eyes too large for his face, hands too small for his body” (28). Their father favors Daniel, partly because they look similar, and partly because Daniel adheres to New Christianity.

In Amsterdam, under the protection of the Ma’amad and the guidance of Solomon Parido especially, Daniel follows Jewish custom and law, but without any real devotion. He mutters the Hebrew blessings when dining with others, but he “would always forget when he ate alone, there being no one to impress or instruct” (44).

Daniel allows the penniless Miguel to live in his house. However, “there had always been a rivalry between them,” and Daniel “had never shown warm feelings for his brother” (47). Daniel does not display any true affection for his wife Hannah.

Daniel and Miguel’s fortunes are reversed by the end of the novel: Miguel gains much wealth from his coffee trade, and Daniel is revealed to be in his debt. When Hannah names Miguel as her child’s father, Daniel considers himself financially and personally ruined by Miguel. He asks the Ma’amad for a divorce and leaves the city.

Joachim is a Dutchman who lost all his money after investing in Miguel’s sugar trade. Though he once dressed in fine clothes, he now wears “torn, baggy breeches” (77). Joachim believes that Miguel owes him the 500 guilders he invested, and he stalks and threatens Miguel throughout the book. Though Joachim is hired by Parido to get information about Miguel’s business, he switches allegiance and becomes an informant for Miguel in return for 10 percent of Miguel’s profit. The scheme proves successful, but after Hendrick badly beats Joachim in retaliation for Miguel’s treatment of Geertruid, Joachim and his wife take their money and leave the city.

Hendrick, a Dutchman around 20 years of age, is “a muscular wide-shouldered fellow with blond hair and a face almost more pretty than handsome” (5). Miguel is unsure precisely what Hendrick’s relationship with Geertruid is, but Hendrick is constantly by her side and always does what she orders. When Miguel is threatened by Joachim, Hendrick says that for 50 guilders he will “see to it that he never does another man harm again” (263). Geertruid reveals that she and Hendrick are Charming Pieter and his Goodwife Mary, though “which of us is which, I cannot say” (373). Later Hendrick does beat Joachim badly, not on Miguel’s command but to get revenge on Miguel for tricking Geertruid.