The Jewel Trader of Pegu Book

In the late 16th Century Abraham is a trader in Pegu, in what today is a part of Burma. The format of the story is Abraham's letters back home to his cousin Joseph in Venice. He describes his doings in the jewel trading business, offers observations of the local culture, and muses on comparative religion, as a Jew from a Christian world in a Buddhist society. One of the unusual aspects of the local culture is that they expect their brides to be deflowered by foreigners, and guess who is supposed to provide this service? It sounds all so carnal, but is remarkably not so. Poor Abraham wrestles greatly with this. His inclination is to refuse, but then the king will be annoyed with him, business will suffer and who knows what dangers might emerge from the crazed leader, and the girls will then have to go to other foreigners who are not nearly so kind as Abraham. He accedes. Complications ensue when the prospective husband of one of the virgins he has taken care of dies before the wedding, leaving her an outcast. He takes her in and eventually falls in love. There is considerable payload in this book about the culture of the end of the 16th century, both in the east and in Europe, specifically Venice. It was a very sweet, kindly-natured book, that seemed to cast a warm glow as one read. The characters are engaging, the setting interesting, the internal dialogue substantive. This is a lovely, lovely book.