It’s now been over two weeks since I left the Netherlands, but that’s not going to stop me posting about it! In this post I wanted to share some books set in that wonderful country. Whilst I searched high and low for books set in different provinces, there is definitely a bias towards Holland. I was only able to find books set in either Zuid-Holland or Noord-Holland, so whilst it’s not completely representative of the entire country, it’s a start! Feel free to suggest other titles in the comments. 🙂
1 – 3. Haarlem
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom and The First Sir Percy by Emmuska Orczy
4 – 7. Amsterdam
The Dinner by Herman Koch, After the Silence by Jake Woodhouse, Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson and Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
8. Den Haag/The Hague
Lust for Life by Irving Stone
9 – 10. Delft
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and The Golden Tulip by Rosalind Laker
Thank you for sharing these! I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book set in the Netherlands (I have read The Fault in Our Stars, but I don’t think it really counts because the majority of it is set in the US) and that’s something I’ll have to change – I’d quite like to check out Girl with a Pearl Earrings, particularly as I like the look of a lot of Tracy Chevalier’s work.
It certainly sounds like a great piece of historical fiction 🙂
Woot! I’m so excited that I can say that I have read three of these.
I remember really liking The Black Tulip (read at least 5 years ago). I recently read The Three Musketeers and I did not like it. Which left me wondering what I liked about his other book, so I plan to read it again.
I liked earlier works by Stephenson, but I won’t be finishing the Baroque Cycle. Snow Crash is a favorite book of mine.
I really loved Dumas’ ‘La reine Margot’, although that’s the only work of his that I’ve read, so I can’t comment on Three Musketeers or the Black Tulip!
I’ve not read any Neal Stephenson, but I feel like I should read at least one of his books at some point. Will make a note of Snow Crash 🙂