Vig Orniensis's Reviews > The Tontine

A magnificent story of an entrepreneurial family around the 17th/18th century. Costain has very cleverly interwoven the threads of this great story around a Tontine, which was a national competition where each competitor paid a huge amount to enter. there were yearly payouts to those still surviving until the final one left alive would pick up the whole jackpot. Imagine the intrigue towards the end !!! (Not surprising these became illegal).
Such a very clever story I am surprised that it has never appeared as a BBC series (like Downton Abbey for example).
This I think would rank as Thomas Costain's best novel, (more fictional than factional).