Claude Cueni was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1956.

After studying and traveling around Europe, he published his first novel in 1980.

He has written detective novels, radio plays, screenplays, and created storyboards for film and television.

The publication of "Caesar's Wizards" in 1998 won him worldwide fame.

The novel "The Big Gambling" published in 2006 is his most successful novel. It has been translated into more than ten foreign languages ??and has long been at the top of the Swiss bestseller list.

Claude Cueni currently lives in Binningen, a suburb of Basel, Switzerland.

The following is the author’s preface written for Chinese readers!

It was my son's idea to write the novel "The Big Gambling" as a birthday present from him.

He discovered John Law while reading "Memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon": a libertine sentenced to death, the inventor of paper money in Europe, who became the richest man in the world through his talents in card playing and mathematics.

What a wonderful material!

I suddenly had the urge to create something about this historical figure.

John Law embodied the power of action: he had a vision and never gave up.

When I was writing "The Big Bet," my wife was already suffering from cancer. I was taking care of her at home and writing while she slept.

When she passed away in my arms, I realized the cruel reality of the unpredictable nature of life.

After learning from this painful experience, the character of John Law became more and more fleshed out in my mind.

Giving up is not an option for me because everyone only lives once.

Being a writer is my lifelong goal and I have no other dreams.

Either succeed or be destroyed!

That's my motto, but never give up.

After my wife passed away, I lived in Hong Kong for a long time.

I love Asia, especially Chinese culture and Chinese food.

I learned a lot in Asia, especially when faced with the blows of fate, I told myself that I must be calm and composed, and never look forward or backward.

Therefore, it is precisely this book, which I consider to be my best work to date, that is now being published in China, which makes me even more excited.

Sadly, this will be my last work.

Fifteen months after my wife passed away from cancer, I fell ill with the same terminal disease - leukemia.

Still, I'm excited to complete my monetary history trilogy.

The history of money is the history of mankind.

Like the development of writing or navigation, the invention of money was crucial in the development of civilization.

The first novel "Caesar's Wizards" is a story about metal currency, "The Big Gambling" features John Law, who invented paper currency, and "Go and Kill" revolves around virtual currency.

These three novels total 1,500 pages, representing three historical eras. They tell the story of people's success and failure, love and hate, sometimes giving up, falling and then getting up again and moving forward bravely.