The Family Trade

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The Family Trade
Author	Charles Stross
Cover artist	Paul Youll
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Merchant Princes
Genre(s)	Science Fiction
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	December 2004
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	303 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-7653-0929-7
Followed by	The Hidden Family

The Family Trade is the first book of Charles Stross' science fiction series The Merchant Princes. The first novel introduces us to journalist Miriam Beckstein, who finds herself in a parallel world in which her extended family holds power.

Miriam's adoptive mother gives her a shoebox filled with items that belonged to Miriam's birth mother, a Jane Doe who died mysteriously when Miriam was only a baby. Among other items, Miriam finds a locket. Inside is a design not unlike a Celtic knot, and when she focuses on it, she is transported to a parallel world that never developed beyond the Dark Ages—except for the men on horses who try to kill her with machine guns.

Miriam quickly finds herself caught up in the feuds of her estranged family, which calls itself the Clan. The Clan has used the genetic ability to travel back and forth between the two worlds to build a lucrative import/export trade. However, one of their main sources of income is transporting drugs into and out of the United States which bothers Miriam for ethical and other reasons.

Miriam finds a kindred soul in a distant relation by name of Roland, who would also like to be free of the Clan's machinations.

The second book in the series is The Hidden Family (2005); these two were originally written as one novel. They are followed by The Clan Corporate (2006), the first part of the second story. On June 3, 2006, Stross announced "I just handed in #4 and should be starting on #5 in another couple of months. Nope, it's not a trilogy." [1]

Along with the first two sequels, The Family Trade won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History.