Netherlands Books

Emotions are to be avoided, religion is inherently illogical, only rational philosophy can bring you contentment, free-will is a myth; these are the tenants of Spinoza and, yes, the credo of all Vulcans. All these years of trying to get a sense of Spinoza and 3/4 through the book the image of Mr. Spock came floating through the text. Think about it, if Spinoza was successful in changing the metaphysical paradigm of western civilization, we'd all be Vulcans today. Seriously, this is a good book for any serious Spinozists, and puts into context the genius and guts that was Spionza as well as the remarkable period of tollerance which was the golden age of the Dutch Republic. I would suggest reading Yirmiyahu Yovel's, "Spinoza and Other Heretics" for anyone interested in getting a sense of the Pre-converso environment of the Marranos.

I simply could not relate to this book, a reaction which may or may not reflect an adequate idea.

Steven Nadler skillfully guides the reader not only through Spinoza's life but also through the turbulent times of the 17th century Holland. All the more useful ride to enable us to see the courage of an outstanding man, citizen, a brilliant philosopher who taught us that GOD is Nature and us. Great reading!

Despite the paucity of source material, Steven Nadler's biography captures the essence of one of western philosophy's brightest minds, as well as the age and place in which he lived. With almost nothing surviving to document his early life, the first third of the book on Spinoza's formative years is largely a history of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions, and the Jewish immigrant community of Amsterdam to which Spinoza's family fled. I hadn't expected to read so much about these topics, but Nadler's presentation proved engaging, as it did throughout the book, including accessible summaries of Spinoza's thought and his major works. This is no intellectual history, so ideas are presented in their most general outline, but for someone new to Spinoza this might be just what you need to decide whether you'd like to explore further. This is the first book I've read about Spinoza. It was a good place to start.

What stays with me from Nadler's work is an image of the philosopher, a young man - he died still in his 40's - content with life and his place in it. He ate enough to survive, wore enough to stay warm, and kept only a few boxes of books and the lens grinding equipment with which he earned enough money to support his low-impact life. He never married and never traveled outside the Netherlands. He was offered prestigious academic positions, but turned them down. When confronted with the disputatious, he tried to find some way to avoid confrontation. He lived a quiet, interior life of reflection. If he was hungry for anything, it was ideas, what he called the search for truth. In all other ways, he seemed at ease in the world. And why not? For Spinoza the world is the sum of the long chain of cause and effect, a world that can't be otherwise, a world of perfect imperfections. In such a world, what is there with which to contend except oneself? And this Spinoza did, cleaving true to his vision of reality, a man of admirable honesty and simplicity.

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The book give a great details about the life during the inquisition time in Spain Portugal & Holland..
Is has a very good view about the terrible consequences of fanatics in the Catholic religion, and show why the world was intellectually almost paralyzed during the dark ages of the religion terror.

However, the book only give small inside about the wonderful philosophical thinking of Spinoza, is more a historic book than a philosophical one..

This book is about a girl growing up in Holland during World War Two. It describes how Rachel and her sister Esther have to go into hiding to avoid being seen by Nazi officials. Rachel and Esther, have to be split apart from her family over and over again. Rachel and Esther have to go through tons of very intense things. They have to hide during Nazi round ups and they hear the gunshot of a Jewish girl who was found and was killed. I liked this book because of all the suspense that happens in the story. I would give this book five stars.

During a time of war, families are split apart, confusion is prevalent and innocent people get hurt. World War Two is the setting for Ida Vos's Hide and Seek. The Hartog family lives in a small town near Holland and knows that the invasion of the Germans is inevitable. The Hartog's are a prominent Jewish family and contribute much to their community. Their oldest daughter, Rachel, experiences racial prejudice first hand.
Rachel and her family are forced to go into hiding as the Germans take over their city. The family is eventually split apart and Rachel has no way of communicating with her parents. Day by day she receives a total of deaths and can not help but feel overwhelmed that her family members may be one of those numbers.
Ida Vos allows the reader to feel the hurt and confusion that Rachel goes through. The questions that Rachel asks about the hatred of some people only contribute to the emotions of the reader. As one reads, they are lost in the setting and time of this war and feel as if they were there along side of Rachel.

Ida Vos' book Hide and Seek is written in short chapters that present snippets from the life of the main character, Rachel Hartog, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Rachel's first person, present tense narrative draws the reader into her experiences and increases their intensity. As the Nazi persecution of Jews increases, Rachel and her family go into hiding to escape being deported to concentration camps. Readers experience Rachel and her family's fears and hopes, culminating with the defeat of Germany and their freedom from hiding. The Hartog family must then rejoin the outside world--facing the horrible truth that most of their family and friends were murdered in concentration camps.

The treasure of this book is its details--Vos acknowledges at the end of the book that the story of Rachel Herzog is her own, and that she has tried to record her time in hiding as accurately as possible. Details such as Rachel and her sister's intense fear of going outside after the German defeat, caused by their many years of living inside in fear of discovery, and the letters her family received telling them of their relatives deaths in concentration camps add so much depth to the illustration of what it was like to have been Jewish in those times, to have been in hiding, and to have survived.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves thriller novels. I also recommend this book for ages 10 and older, because this book has very scary parts. This book is a bit frightening and interesting. It is also about friendship. I liked this book because for example, Lissa confides in Brian, the boy in Lissa's English class. Brian states, "I'll never do anything to let you down," he said. "Day after day, I'll be honest with you, and I'll never intentionally hurt you. After about seven thousand and eight days of this, you'll begin to realize that this is something you can count on - that I'm someone you can count on." Now Lissa can tell Brian about her fathers violent ways. I also like this book because it makes it interesting when Lissa talks about her past with her friends. She says, "No, I won't say I'm going to die, I have to think about the happy times in my life. I can't think about dying. Not now, not yet, not ever." When she said this it just made me want to read more about what was happening to her, and who was trying to kill her.

I first read this book at twelve, and I believe that one of the reasons it's been so unforgettable to me is the fact that I had never read a book written in the present tense before and hadn't known a book could be written in anything but the past tense. It inspired me to use the present tense in my own writing; in this book, the present tense coupled with the tense times and situations the Hartog family must go through makes the story more compelling, immediate, haunting, and page-turning. A story written in the past tense tells us that everything has already happened, but in the present tense, we're living right in each new moment and don't know what might happen next.

I didn't really take notice of this till I recently read it again for the third time, but time really does pass too quickly here; we aren't told how much time has passed between most of the events, and Rachel, who was eight years old in 1940 when the book began, is turning twelve years old in hiding when the book is only about half over. But it only makes sense; Rachel and her little sister Esther are just young children and wouldn't have the same perception of time that an older person would. A person who experienced these events as a teenager or adult would certainly tend to remember in detail how much time had passed after each important event and what all they were doing during the time periods that weren't written about, but a young child is more likely to remember things and people than specifics about the exact passage of time or every little thing that happened. And Rachel sees everything through the eyes of a child, not a mature adult who would have more perspective on these events.

Though the family is happily reunited at the end (even with Rachel and Esther's maternal grandparents), the way Ida Vos and her little sister were reunited with their parents after the war, the story doesn't end there like some childrens' books on this subject might. The family still has to come to terms with all of the missing and dead friends and relatives, finding a new house, catching up in school, having to break out of habits they acquired while in hiding or in the camps (such as Rachel and Esther praying a Christian prayer before meals and their grandfather stealing old bread from garbage cans), and readjust to doing all of the things they were forbidden to do before, like ride bikes, go to school, walk around freely, go swimming, and go shopping whenever they want to. Though it's for a younger audience and thus can't go into the same harrowing detail that an adult book of this nature would, it gets the story and its impact across powerfully.

The Diary of Anne Frank is one of those books many people read in school. For reasons I don't remember I was not one of them. I stumbled on this version and decided it was time.

Overall this is an excellent compendium of the 3 versions of the diary. The first 175 pages give you the history of the Frank Family, how they were arrested and suspects for betrayal. It also delves into the challenges of Fraud that has been lodged against the diaries. The author shows how these claims are baseless and the gives you the process used to debunk the claims.

This is not a simple read. This book is more for the scholar then the casual reader. Especially when faced with up to three versions of each passage in the diaries. The casual reader will probably find themselves skipping the other passages.

My wife said there were versions that painted Anne as a Saint and I did not see that in this edition. I saw the average teenage girl with the usual complaints about family and the horrible times she found herself in. Yet, she managed to find herself infatuated with boys and tried to outlast the fate that would happen to her.

This is a book all should read especially when considering it has been banned a few times.

I love this book, because it make me understand that all three versions of the diary that know Anne wrote her original diaries,two notebooks and 324 loose sheet while she was hiding.

Anne did write alot about her friends, sexual feeelings, and fighting between her and her mother. The second one is missing,so she did finish the rewrite on loose sheet which is version B that the dated from December 7, 1942 to December 22, 1943. The last page of the rewrite on loose sheet on March 29,1994 about listening the radio broadcasting the Duth Exile from london that collected the daries and letters that people want to read then after the war. Anne did all the rewrite, but she never finished sadly, on August 4, 1944 the day of the arrest the nazi interupted her. She is a great writer of all times. I'm very obessed Anne Frank, because she is so smart!.

Anyone want to about Anne's life was Melissa Muller's Biography "Anne Frank" This is a great book!

I am going to tell you about the best book I have ever read. The best book I have read is
The Diary of Anne Frank. It is about a little girl that is Jewish. It takes place in 1945 during
World War II. It talks about them being scared of hearing a knock at the door. It talks about them getting sent to concentration camps and how the people get tortured there like in gas chambers that is were they stick you in a room air tight and fill the room with deadly gas fumes. They wood also cut all your hair off and tattoo a number on you. Most of the people would die because they would freeze to death because it was so cold. They were fed very little food and their beds had flies all around them and they would make you have a job like cleaning the bathrooms. So you can see people there were treated very badly. And all this happened because one man named Hitler wanted to do this all because the people where Jewish. These are just a few things why this is my favorite book. And I think that you should read this book too.

I really didnt know much about Anne Frank and the Holocaust until my seventh grade year. But once i learned about it i developed an interest in it. It was a sad SAD thing to study but it is life which i want to learn more about and it is history which i love to study. Anne Frank was the most interesting person that i studied about in the Holocaust. Read the book and find out just how interesting she was!!!!

I'm glad someone decided to provide an uncensored version of Anne Frank's diary in English. This book contains English translations of three versions of Anne Frank's diaries, printed in such a way as to make it easier to compare them than if they had been printed back to back or in separate volumes. One version is Anne's fictionalized version. One is the, censored version as it was introduced to the Puritanical United States. The unabridged version is excellent, but not for prudes. Anne Frank was apparently bisexual, as well as a young woman of great intellect, insight and literary talent! I was amazed at how well I was able to relate to her, even though she was of another gender, born into a different race, raised on a different continent (Europe), about a quarter of a century before me! Thanks to this book, I fell in love with her!

I bought this book for my daughter, who rarely reads fiction. I recall The Black Tulip as light,humorous and of historical interest. This edition is very attractive.

Who would have thought that a book, with a simple plot about two rivals trying racing to be the first to grow a black tulip, could be so unputdownable? There are no lords and ladies, no swashbuckling heros, no evil cardinals or Miladys -- nothing but a darn good yarn, and a very sweet love story.

Dumas is just brilliant (as always) and his dialogue (as always) is among the finest I've ever come across. A very quick, albeit enjoyable, read. Highly recommended.

While The Black Tulip lacks the swashbuckling, derring-do adventures of the other Dumas novels I have read, it is every bit as enjoyable to read.

Beginning with the arrest of two brothers, deemed traitors to the throne, Dumas Holland-based story at least begins with as strong a conflict as his other more action-laced novels. But the story, while shifting focus to the Godson of one of the men arrested, concerns his passion and pursuit of the highly coveted black tulip, a strain of Holland's most popular horticultural export. Cornelius van Baerle, a man of comfortable means, is little concerned with his wealth, or with position; or at all suspicious of the papers left in his care by his Godfather prior to his arrest. M. van Baerle has but one pursuit, one goal, and one dream...to produce a flawless, rare black tulip.

Thus his downfall, as an avaricious neighbor,Isaac Boxtel, shares this dream, but for entirely different reasons. While Cornelius van Baerle cares not for the riches and fame associated with growing such a flower, Boxtel covets both and plots to eliminate his competition and abscond with the delicate blossom which will net him one hundred thousand florins, more than enough to live like the King himself.

M. van Baerle is, therefore, convicted of treason when Boxtel reveals the existence of the papers of va Baerle's godfather to the authorities, and M. van Baerle finds himself on the wrong side of prison bars.

However, the appearance of an unexpected love awakens passions in Cornelius to rival those he feels for the black tulip, and ignites a desire in him to share the possible wealth associated with the flower, simply to assure it's development and care.

Thus, the race is on to plant, grow, and deliver the black tulip to the Horticultural Society.

Dumas' writing skills are in fine form with this shorter novel, sparing none of the humor, grace, and elegance of other works of his I have indulged in. And while foils are left in scabbards, no plots to overthrow a corrupt Cardinal materialize, and revenge is not sought against the bad-guys...this novel is every bit as exciting.

A fine way to experience one of France's most prolific historical authors for the first time, or to further explore his catalogue of works.

I love Dumas. I had never heard of The Black Tulip. It is a big departure from his standard fare. It is also very short. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that loves Dumas' swashbuckling heros. It is totally different. However, if you can get pass the fact that it is a Dumas book and contains no sword fights, then it is a sweet book.

Not everyone could do it. In fact, almost no one else that I could think of, could construct a story about a gardener whose main passion in life is to grow a new variety of tulip, and turn it into a compelling, intrigue-filled, heroic romance. But Dumas does, here.

Certainly, Dumas shines in his more famous novels, like The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, giants of hundreds and hundreds of pages (thousands if you consider the entire Musketeer cycle), repleat with swashbuckling, conspiracy, murder and ladies-fair. It is therefore understandable that some of his audience might be put off by The Black Tulip, which is a scant 200 and some pages, and has its hero in jail for most of the novel, struggling to grow a flower by proxy. But really, the lesson is how great Alexandre Dumas is, because The Black Tulip manages to be just as rewarding (and at times, as thrilling) as his more renowned epics. Also, Dumas here shows some of his versatility and his incredible understanding of humanity, in the lovers conversations between Cornelius and Rosa, and in his rye, good-natured and subtle observations that, really, concentrating on tulip-growing, as opposed to warfare or violence, is a sign of greatness, not of mediocrity.

You can't come to The Black Tulip looking for precisely the same things you'd seek in Dumas' other winners, but if you're looking for a wonderful little story, almost perfectly told, you're in the right place. With this tale, Dumas takes his place as my favorite author, of all time.

Brian Howell's ambitious novel on the seventeenth-century Dutch genre painter Johannes Vermeer is a complex and thought provoking read. Although the author often struggles between the blending of more complex ideas, historical fact and fictional construction, the overall experience is a satisfying one. Howell takes us into the life and under the skin of the enigmatic painter. The limited biographical information on the artist presents the perfect space for conjecture which Howell readily fills. Few gaps remain in the life and after-life of Vermeer at the conclusion to the novel, as the chapters take the reader from the artist's childhood, to a period in the middle of his career as Headman of the Painter's Guild of Delft (his home town) and finally to the modern reception of his painting 'The Music Lesson' as it is copied by a contemporary artist. The multifarious questions that Howell addresses include issues of perception and reality, childhood influence, painting technique, the effect of the invention of photography and the value, both psychological and material, of a work of art. However, the danger that Howell faces in the exploration of these ideas is that his characters may remain under-developed. I would agree that this is perhaps the case on first glance; but Howell's is a novel that invites a second reading and once one has become familiar with his agenda, the characterisation shines through. Despite the reader's intimacy with Vermeer, he remains the delicate balance between familiarity and strangeness that his paintings are so often seen to possess.

The Dance of Geometry is a beautifully woven piece of historical fiction that examines the life and work of the Dutch artist, Johannes Vermeer, and the speculation among some experts that he used a device called a camera obscura to create the images in some of his paintings. This book is well researched and written in sharp and intelligent prose. Howell grabbed my attention at the beginning and held it until the last page. The voices of the various narrators seem amazingly accurate and capture their respective periods perfectly. There is a hint of mystery in how the story is told that gives the novel a nice narrative drive and lifts it above a mere recounting of the events in the painter's life. If you have any interest in Vermeer, this is required reading. If you don't know Vermeer's work, this novel is a great jumping off point to learn more about this fascinating Dutch Master.

Brian Howell's successful first book, The Dance of Geometry, is an indulgence for all of us art aficionados - those of us who have found ourselves irrevocably lost in a "story" captured on canvas, and the clandestine lives and experiences of the artists themselves.

Howell artfully interweaves three unique perspectives, offering the reader a rare glimpse into the mind and life of 17th century artistic mastermind, Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer - the artist as a child, pliable and vulnerable to influence; Vermeer as an artist in his prime; and a modern-day art copyist in quest of more than a mere replica of the Dutch artist's work. Excerpts of Vermeer's childhood and experiences which would influence his work later on in his life are melded together, further on in the plane of time, with an abstract narrative of his journey to becoming an ingenious and respected artist in later years.

The story casts shadows and light on the beautiful harmony, colour, and depth found in Vermeer's art, possibly enhanced by incorporating the use of a camera obscura, and utilization of de Vries' perspective and visual field.

The final chronicle by the modern day art copyist delving into Vermeer's work and milieu as an artist, is the final `signature' to Howell's literary work of art.

By and large, The Dance of Geometry is an engrossing piece of abstract work that is worth exploring in detail...not unlike Vermeer's own.

Brian Howell's ambitious novel on the seventeenth-century Dutch genre painter Johannes Vermeer is a complex and thought provoking read. Although the author often struggles between the blending of more complex ideas, historical fact and fictional construction, the overall experience is a satisfying one. Howell takes us into the life and under the skin of the enigmatic painter. The limited biographical information on the artist presents the perfect space for conjecture which Howell readily fills. Few gaps remain in the life and after-life of Vermeer at the conclusion to the novel, as the chapters take the reader from the artist's childhood, to a period in the middle of his career as Headman of the Painter's Guild of Delft (his home town) and finally to the modern reception of his painting 'The Music Lesson' as it is copied by a contemporary artist. The multifarious questions that Howell addresses include issues of perception and reality, childhood influence, painting technique, the effect of the invention of photography and the value, both psychological and material, of a work of art. However, the danger that Howell faces in the exploration of these ideas is that his characters may remain under-developed. I would agree that this is perhaps the case on first glance; but Howell's is a novel that invites a second reading and once one has become familiar with his agenda, the characterisation shines through. Despite the reader's intimacy with Vermeer, he remains the delicate balance between familiarity and strangeness that his paintings are so often seen to possess.

Brian Howell has written a 'novel' that is unique on many levels and on most of those levels he is eminently successful. The concept of revealing how an artist of the stature of Vermeer developed his unique method of painting by first (Part 1), letting us hear his child's mind absorb all of the vagaries of light, visual planes, textures, and psychological feeding as young Johannes Vermeer follows his Delft family through the life of the 17th century Dutch atmosphere and training; second,(Part 2) placing us beside an outside observor recording all the intricacies of the adult and successful painter Vermeer became; and third (Part 3), bringing it all round through the tale of a 1980's painter who 'copies' paintings for a living, with all the 20th century information about art history, psychology, and the wacky weird world of business that surrounds art today. If there are stodgy sentence structures and a penchant for the academe in the first part, these are more than compensated as Howell grows into the more readable dialogue of parts two and three.

In the end, we are left with a fundamental explanation of how we, as viewers of art from any era, pass by a great painting, stop a few steps later, then return to truly enter the world the artist has left in front of our eyes and minds. Reading THE DANCE OF GEOMETRY offers insights into the techniques behind fine painting and in doing so Howell has written a 'novel' that is equally valid as a textbook on art appreciation. Well worth your time for either reason, or hopefully for both.

I first read Donald Burgett's "Currahee" way back around 1975 or so. Many years later with the popularity of "D-Day","Citizen Soldiers" and "Band of Brothers" by Steven Ambrose I decided to re-read "Curahee". On doing so I found to my pleasant surprise that Don Burgett had continued his saga with "The Road to Arnhem - A Screaming Eagle in Holland".

When I re-read "Curahee" I found that it now seemed to me compelling but almost amateurish in its writing. Certainly as a 15 year old it had seemed more polished. But I was very pleasantly surprised by "The Road to Arnhem". While still compelling in its honest recitation of Donald Burgett's experiences as a member of the famed 101st Airborne infantry in World Wary Two, "Arnhem" is both more polished and more insightful into not only the events as they occured but also the author's feelings both at the time and in retrospect. For those of us who have never experienced combat Don Burgett does an excellent job of not only describing the physical nature but also of what was going through his mind as the events happened. The author also gives a wonderful tribute to the part played in the operation by both the British and Polish airborne troops - his sense of comraderie with these fellow troops is evident.

For anyone interested in a "ground eye view" of events of Operation Market Garden this book is a must.

I had a hard time understanding why Burgett's book about WW2 are
such good reads. The prose is relatively simple and direct, and
he most certainly does not rely on any literary devices. But perhaps it is exaclty
this, together with the fact that the man must have a most extraordinary
memory (or most vivid imagination - although I assume the former),
that makes these books so gripping. His books do transport
the reader back to the fields and foxholes of Europe in late 1944.
While no book can bring across the actual firsthand experience of war,
Burgett's books are probably as close as one can get.

The real story of how the pompous banty rooster General Montgomery nearly lost the war on the Western front. It is a tale of arrogance and betrayal, wherein the betrayed fought nobly and many gave their last measure of devotion to a lost cause.

This is Burgett's personal account in Operation Market Garden. A good read if you enjoy first-person accounts sprinkled with liberal dose of humor.

Donald Burgett's "The Road to Arnhem" is a gripping look into the lives of paratroopers involved in arguably the greatest feat of arms ever attempted by airborne troops - the Market portion of Operation Market-Garden.

For those who might not already know the basic story of Operation Market-Garden, it was the brainchild of commander 21st Army Group, British Field Marshal Bernard ('Monty') Montgomery. Monty conceived of Market-Garden as a war-winning 'knife-like' stab (to borrow terms from Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower) into the heart of Germany. By using a combined airborne and armored-infantry attack through Holland as an end run to the North around the main defenses of the West Wall (aka, Seigfreid Line to the Allies) to the Rhine at the Dutch-German border city of Arnhem, Monty hoped to cross the Rhine and push on to the Ruhr - the industrial heart of the Reich, and possibly straight on to Berlin. The airborne portion of the Operation, code named Market, was to lay a carpet of men from the start point on the Belgian-Dutch border to Arnhem, capturing all the necessary bridges spanning the various rivers and cannals along the single major highway running through this region of Holland and securing the flanks such that the Garden portion of the operation could be put into affect. Garden represented the armored-infantry portion of the operation, a thrust up this single highway by British XXX Corps to and across the Rhine at Arnhem. Operation Market-Garden was extremely bold and imaginative but suffered considerably from the standpoint of tactical and logistical options, relying exclusively on a single route from Belgium to the Reich, and near perfect timing of all portions of the operation. While Monty later claimed 'ninety percent success' for Market-Garden, it was a clear tactical and strategic failure that contributed significantly, if not directly, to attrition warfare of the fall-winter '44-45 the Allies were to endure. Considerable human and material wastage occurred as a result of Operation Market-Garden for essentially no tactical or strategic gain. "The Road to Arnhem" is one mans take on this Operation and its impact on those taking part in it.

Burgett doesn't hold back in his descriptions of his daily travails as an airborne trooper. This is not a book for the faint of heart wishing to have war completely sanitized. Rather the reader sees all the warts, brutality and heartbreak of war. If not a great writer, Burgett is in fact a solid storyteller who sucks in the reader to be part of the 'band of brothers' to which he belonged. Fortunately for the reader Burgett not only tells a story of this portion of the war as he saw it, but places this firmly within the context of greater Market-Garden Operation as a whole. In doing so Burgett gives the reader the broader picture of war since the experiences of a single trooper is but a tiny portion of the whole, often limited in space to hundred of yards to a few miles over the entire period of a 1-2 week-long operation. Many readers familiar with Market-Garden will also get the bonus of reading about 101st operations post achievement of their goals but within the temporal window of the Operation on the whole. Upon reading most accounts of Market-Garden readers might tend to think that the paratroopers only captured bridges and waited for XXX Corps. In fact they were in action throughout the month of September '44, although not always on Hell's Highway.

"The Road to Arnhem" is a 4.5 star read worthy of praise and wider readership.

I read this book for the first time 9 years ago and I have read it each and every summer thereafter. In reading about the Holocaust, it is rare to read about what happened after. What happened to the generations of people whose lives were affected. This story tells about how children deal with the grief of such an tragedy. I will continue to read this beautiful yet haunting story over and over again.

I have read a huge selection of Holocaust-related books and I think to date this is probably at the top of my list of must reads for anyone who is interested in the Holocaust. The Loom is also good but doesn't quite compare with Nightfather.

Nightfather is a novel that lingered in my mind, days after I finished the book. It doesn't read like a translation.

I was amazed at how much emotion and substance was present in such a short book. Whereas most contemporary depictions of the Holocaust focus on what is lost in death, Friedman shows the nature of staying alive in a concentration camp. A man loses many things, but what is gained from "having camp" will be with him for the rest of his life.

I've read many books about the Holocaust, and this book is like no other I've come across. It mainly deals with what happened afterwards, and how three siblings struggle to understand what their father went through while imprisoned in a concentration camp. The youngest sibling, a girl, who remains unnamed for the duration of the story, listens along with her two older brothers as their father tells them stories of torture, murder, and survival. Each chapter is short, but tells of one experience, some big, some small, of how the children were effected their father's stories, or, struggle to understand the man behind them. For the amount of time it took me to read, I sure got a lot out of it.

In 1944, two spies are sent deep within Nazi-occupied Holland. Their mission - to help those involved with the Dutch resistance movement. Both men are trained to send, receive, and translate coded messages. These messages contain valuable information concerning the movements of the Nazi army. Even though these men face death at every turn, they are committed to stopping the evil that is associated with the Nazi regime.

In 1995, Tamar is dealing with the suicide of her grandfather. He has left Tamar a box full of clues that she cannot decipher. She decides that it is one of his elaborate puzzles; one that Tamar may not be able to solve. After enlisting the help of her cousin, Yoyo, Tamar sets off on a journey to discover why her grandfather left her these treasures, and what they mean to her family.

Mal Peet has created a novel that intertwines the story of a young girl's journey of self-discovery and a young soldier's fight to stay alive. It is a beautifully written novel that contains secrets within secrets. Peet leads the reader on an adventure that is both intriguing and frightening. Readers may be left speechless once the truth unfolds.

A definite must-read for those who love historical fiction.

Reviewed by: LadyJay

The plot grips you and is interwoven throughout the book-- I love it when bits and pieces of stray information all come together in the end. The characters are developed so well that you can understand their pain, even those you'd like to hate. An excellent novel for discussion, and for any age. I read it looking for books to use with high school students, I'm going to recommend it to my reading club (we're all over 50), and I think both groups will enjoy it. The best book I've read this year.

I find that the best way to tell if a work of historical fiction is effective is if, after reading the novel, I wind up doing a bit of research on the computer to try and corroborate facts from the book. If the story can weave history and fiction together that well, chances are that aside from being a good piece of historical fiction it is also a good book in general. Such is the case with Mal Peet's latest novel targeted at young adults (though, as usual, this distinction is really a moot point--more on that later).

I don't usually put much stock in subtitles to books. However, with this book, I have to admit that the subtitle really tells you everything you need to know. Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal really is just that. In other words, it's an exciting and suspenseful read with quite a few mysterious twists thrown in along the way (to be fair I should point out that I had guessed one of the major twists about thirty pages in, but that only made me want to read faster to see if I was right and, perhaps, made the ending slightly less shocking--you'll have to see for yourself though).

Tamar is actually two stories. What I am going to call the main story (because it takes up more of the novel) occurs between 1944 and 1945 first in England and later (and mostly) in Holland. World War II is well under way, but as time passes, it becomes clear that the Nazis will not win. The main question, then, becomes whether the Germans will have the chance to leave their occupied countries behind intact or in a state of burning rubble. In order to prevent the latter, England's Special Operations Executive (SOE)--a covert military group--have trained and dispatched operatives to go undercover in the Netherlands and undermine the German authority. These operatives, as far as the government are concerned, have no names being known only by an alias. The two SOE operatives at the center of Tamar are named for rivers in England: Tamar and Dart. Working from in Holland, Tamar's job is to consolidate the resistance movement into a more coherent group. Dart accompanies Tamar as his wireless operator. Many other memorable, and important, characters make appearances here. The last of the main characters are rounded out with Marijke, a young woman who lives with her grandmother on the farm Tamar will call his home while undercover.

The other, smaller, part of the story is set in England. The year is 1995 and the narrator is a fifteen-year-old girl named Tamar--the granddaughter of one of the resistance fighters. Tamar's life seems to be falling into chaos. Her father has disappeared, her grandmother Marijke is ill, and her grandfather William Hyde is dead. Inheriting a mysterious box from her grandfather inspires Tamar to follow his clues to understand his death and, although she doesn't know it yet, to uncover one of her family's oldest secrets as well.

I really liked this book. The story is a real page turner but at the same time Peet also offers a very clear examination of the human condition. World War II is a huge event for, basically, everyone. But as time passes, the immediacy of the War also seems to diminish. One of the great things about Peet's writing is how eloquently he conveys the fear these men and women felt during the War--even as they chose to put their lives at risk to fight for what they thought was right. Nothing is black and white in this novel, even as characters make mistakes and stumble down their roads paved with good intentions, Peets offers them a chance for redemption and, maybe more importantly, forgiveness. That is why, I think, the Carnegie Medal committee gave Tamar its award and, write that the book "ultimately offers a sense of optimism."

By comparison, the 1995 sections fall flat. These parts of the novel, serve as a nice counterpoint to the novel, but don't really feel vital until the end. Similarly, Tamar (the girl) seems rather less likable than her 1944 counterpart (or Dart or Marijke) until the very end of the novel where she proves herself to be a strong, smart young woman.

So, the book is fantastic and you should read it. But now we come to a cataloging issues. This book was first recommended to me by "Amy" a young adult librarian with excellent taste who said the cover didn't do justice to the exciting writing found within (the cover has actually grown on me). Anyway, the book was given to me by a YA librarian, I saw it shelved as a YA book. Then my other friend "Lea" (a children's librarian) read it and told me she was having doubts about it being a bonafide YA novel. Having read the book, Lea's review, and having talked briefly with Amy. I've concluded that it is a YA book although I'm uncomfortable making that distinction because so often people think that means it isn't also an adult book (this one is).

There are a lot of things that make a book fit into the broad YA genre. In a general way it can mean having a teen character, which Tamar does, although as Lea points out in her review--not a teen with a very large role in the narrative. There are two other reasons to classify a book as a YA: it's a book teens will enjoy reading and it's a book that teens should read in that it speaks to their own experiences. As to being a good read, I hope I already made a case for that but I will add the caveat that this is a thick book and will take some time to get through with its smaller print and 400 some odd pages.

Now the only question is does Tamar speak to the teen experience. In one sense it doesn't. Although the WWII characters are very young, I don't think any of them are actually teens. And honestly age never becomes relevant in that part of the book anyway. But on the other hand it does because there is a lot to be learned (about forgiveness among other things) from the story and the characters and who better to learn than teens?

::ABOUT::
1/2 the novel takes place during WW2 in Holland, the other have takes place in present time London. The basis is a 15yr old girl trying to reconstruct her grandfathers life. He left her behind a box filled with clues/relics of the war. She goes on a road trip down the Tamar river, which she is named after, searching for the meaning of it all. Meanwhile the book is moving through the grandfathers station in the war and the trials and tribulations of the Holland resistance.
::REVIEW::
This book can be slow and confusing but it does all come together. I think a quickening of pace and more excitement would have much improved the novel. I do like the WW2 Europe time-frame, it's such a great emotion filled era and has been the backdrop to many great movies & novels. Perhaps as a movie, it would be even better. I liked that you did feel like you learned things in the novel, and came away from the book with yet another view of the war and the difficulties of that time. Recommended ages 16 and up.

Don't worry that the narrator is a young girl. She's deep and interesting and mature. This story unfolds beautifully: romantically terrifyingly set mostly behind the German lines in WWII. The past, the present. Secrets, hints, breathtaking escapades, courage, fear...it's all there.
This is also a coming of age story and it is deftly woven into the fabric of the story from the past and has enough momentum to take your breath away.
Twists and turns enough to satisfy and artfully done rather than used as a way to simply move the plot.
A really, really good read...left me delighted!

Ethnic Knitting: Discovery: The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and The Andes is an excellent book by Donna Druchunas. It's too bad that there isn't a subtitle regarding designing your own sweater. The material is easy to read. The charts (including the mathmatics) are easy to understand and use. The illustrations are not in color but so what! I am currently knitting a Netherland sweater and I can't believe how easy and fast it is knitting up. My next project is to knit with two colors because this book is an inspiration and not intimidating. The techniques from the Andes seem scary at first but the writing again is so easy to understand and use that I'm not locked into a specific pattern; I can use the techniques for anything I may create. If you are looking for a gift item for your knitter, I'd recommend this book.

I have been knitting for a few years but until now I have been terrified of knitting on my own without depending on a pattern for my every stitch. I even try to stick with the exact yarn (and color) as the designer used. It would NEVER have crossed my mind to use a different yarn weight than the pattern called for! This book was written for me and knitters like me. It is written in an easy to follow, no nonsense way to ease the fears of venturing on your own to create a sweater that is made for you! I can see the advantage now of knitting a sweater that is customized to my size and my preferences in color and style. And I can now use just about any weight I want.
Now, not only am I ready to make the Norwegian sweater I have envisioned since I 1st picked up the needles, but I will be more confident in my abilities to make changes in any pattern I choose to make in the future. Can you tell I'm a little excited?
A few reviewers commented on the lack of photographs...I think the author did this on purpose so that we don't have to rely, compare or try to imitate what we see. She wants us to make the sweater that we want to make and not copy what someone else made.
If you buy this book, you get more than another book full of someone else's designs. You will be able to knit more confidently by being able to venture on your own to design and create sweaters from several other regions. Happy knitting!

It is original to offer three ways to knit each pattern - using a visual plan (most basic), using planning worskeets (more detailed), or using step-by-step project sheets (most detailed. There are no complete instructions to knit any of the patterns. This might encourage the insecure knitter who follows patterns completely to eventually be able to knit without following a pattern (the more traditional/ethnic method of knitting, we are told). I could not get the book to lie flat, so it will have to be spiral-bound.

Much along the lines of Arctic Lace, Donna has written yet another wonderful book on knitting history and technique. This book makes traditional knitting techniques and original pattern design accessible to even a beginning knitter. I highly recommend picking up this book if you are interested in the knitting of various cultures or if you are ready to start creating your own designs. In either case, the material would be useful for you.

I've been knitting for 18 years, have read both Elizabeth Zimmerman and Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, not to mention Maggie Righetti and "The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns". I've done my own sweaters. So why, then am I so glad I picked up this book? And why will I happily buy her next volume in this series, which will introduce more sweater shapes and ethnic styles?

Well, for starters, the section on Andean knitting techniques (hard to find in the states) has vastly speeded up my knitting, which is important in getting things off the needles. But more to the point, as the publisher (Deb Robson) explains, this book is meant to be a good introduction (or reintroduction, and inspirational kick in the pants) for those of us who may want to get into/back into ethnic knitting. It's Ethnic Knitting DISCOVERY, not the grad-level course! The author has done a great job of pulling together the essentials of what you need to know to get started knitting folk style, doing it your own way. It does not replace such classics as PRiscilla Gibson Roberts "Knitting in the Old Way". But it makes it easier, even for someone like myself, to "catch" the mindset behind ethnic knitting. It's not just the math, it's the attitude that the author imparts, that is important.

Recently I realized that I'd fallen off the wagon on knitting, mainly due to lack of time to do my own patterns (I'm in naturopathic medical school). Furthermore, over the years of knitting, I'd gotten lost in the details... fifty kazillion ways to design a couture sweater. Most of which frankly require a background in fashion design. I was down to knitting things in pieces, from others' patterns, which usually never quite got through. I realized I had to begin again. If I had to go back and pull all my other books off the shelves to figure out how to get a sweater going again, ethnic style, it wouldn't happen (I've got more studying to do after I write this.) So yesterday I got this book, some new wool yarn, and got something back on the needles... and progressing. That fast.

After you read this, yes of course you'll want to check out "Knitting in the Old Way" and all the fabulous books out there on the history and details of ethnic styling, and maybe even start a tradition of your own. But start with this. You'll learn something. I did.

Bloodstone Castle
Heinrich the Fowler: Father of the Ottonian Empire

In 18th century Holland, after the tulip trade boom, the Dutch people turn their interests and their hearts to artists such as Rembrandt and Franz Halls. Hendrick Visser is a student of art under Franz Hall. The sale of his paintings would earn him a comfortable living were it not for his compulsive gambling and incessant drinking. His vices continually force his family into a hand-to-mouth existence and always on the edge of devastation and financial ruin. Despite his failings, his wife Anna, and three daughters Francesca, Aletta, and Sybylla, love him and help him through his scrapes. When Hendrick's wife dies in childbirth, his three daughters become even more vulnerable to their father's vice-driven whims and desperate acts.

Francesca, Hendrick's eldest daughter is a talented artist and she has been assigned to study with Johannes Vermeer, a master artist from Delft. Francesca falls in love with Pieter van Doorne, a tulip merchant. Meanwhile, Hendrick looses heavily at gambling. Desperate to pay off his gambling debts, he secretly enters into an arrangement and ransoms Francesca off to unscrupulous man named Ludolf van Deventer who has become obsessed with her, even to the point of committing murder. Not only is Francesca terrified of the man, but she is also repulsed by him.

Aletta is fearful of leaving her future in the hands of her father so she begins to paint, selling her work secretly to a lower class of society. When Hendrick discovers her sub-standard clandestine ventures into the art world, he destroys her paintings and banishes her from his home and his life.

Sybylla seeks escape through marriage into a rich family and is highly materialistic.

The Golden Tulip is a tale about the three sisters and their struggles to overcome the turmoil in their lives caused not only by societal mores and values, but by addiction. Rosalind Laker sweeps her reader into 18th century Holland, successfully bringing to life wonderful vividness and authenticity. She knows well the customs, history, and world of artists during that time. As always, her novels have wonderful three dimensional characters and extraordinary plot twists. Rosalind Laker's novels never ever disappoint and always make for fascinating reads.

The Golden Tulip will appeal to the heart of all those who struggle to reach their dreams. The story, set in periods of Dutch history, weaves innocence and deception into a captivating tale.

You are carried back in time to notable confrontations with stunning realism. Artistic creativity of the true masters, bright and bold fields of tulips, and the dark side of unethical behavior all surface in unexpected places. Each chapter addresses the challenges of one of the character, and you are often left wondering when they will reappear. If you try to predict the next move, you best put on your detective cloak. The author skillfully uses twists and turns surprising even the best of readers.

The characters, though a bit confusing at first, grow vivid and real with each turning page. Some are intensely and intimately described and yet others are mysterious shadows. There is a wonderful variety of naivety, common sense, shocking reality and evil in its purest form. Action fills almost every page and a rollercoaster of emotional challenges soon beset the reader.

The story has many side plots which enhance the book. You will find a wide web of intrigue at its finest, romance with shocking consequences, and shameful dishonesty with scandalous results. The overall writing style flows easily. The settings and actions come alive as the author reaches not only your senses but your heart as well.

The Golden Tulip is a wonderful story for those who love to dream. It may surprise you what the human heart can endure...and still survive.

Armchair Interviews says: Everyone can relate to having dreams.

Winning the Highlander's Heart
Francesca Visser is the daughter of a Dutch painter, talented in painting as well. When her mother dies, she takes over the role of administering the family's money, which is no easy task as her father is a habitual gambler. But her mother thankfully had deceitfully "apprenticed" her daughters under her husband's teachings by forging his signature and when the father's art agent insists on using the money from the sale of a painting of Francesca to further her art education under another famous artist, her father agrees. Only she must give up her love of a tulip merchant in the bargain.

A fascinating tale of how women in Holland could actually become master paintings with the proper tutelage, how life there was during the 19th Century, how destitute artists like Rembrandt were, who died in abject poverty despite his talent, how so many of the people died young, including the two women he loved at thirty and thirty-eight years of age, and how even the tulip merchant's family had died early on due to the plague. It's a fascinating tale of an artist family's dynamics, of tears and joy, set so realistically in another time, another place, I felt I'd time-traveled there. Kudos to Ms. Laker for The Golden Tulip, a fascinating read and keeper for my historical fiction collection.

The Golden Tulip

This is my first book from this author. I did really enjoy it. Three sisters help guide their father and take care of him after their mother has passed during childbirth. One is the caretaker, one is selfish and one is in between. The father has bad gambling problems and gambles the worst thing EVER, his oldest daughter's future to one of his patron's to get out of a HUGE gambling debt. We follow Francesca's story quite a bit, but we also follow the other two sisters as well.

I did enjoy this book quite a bit, I won't give away anything in my review. It had me hooked from Chapter 1. I could just picture Holland. However, it wasn't as it said on the back cover. "Tulip mania" had already ended. It will be an unforgettable book and I will be wanting to check out more from Ms. Laker.

I first encountered the novels of Rosalind Laker back in the 1980's, and rather enjoyed her blend of romance and history. Her historical research was solid and interesting, and while sometimes the characters were a bit off the mark, there was enough in them to interest me. Then I stopped seeing her works on the shelves and I moved on to other writers. Now Three Rivers Press is bringing her backlist (previously issued books) back into print, and I scooped up The Golden Tulip on a recent excursion into a bookstore.

Set in Holland during the seventeenth century, this tells the story of the three daughters of Hendrick Visser. Hendrick is an artist painting in Amsterdam, and is a broad fellow in his desires. He adores his wife and children, and while he's very competent at what he does, money just seems to flow through his hands. His wife Anna is more than a little fed up with his behavior, but she loves him very much, and manages to keep their household together. Of their three daughters, the eldest two, Francesca and Aletta, have the most artistic talent, while the youngest Sybylla, is a cheerful butterfly of a girl, dreaming of a life of leisure when she snags a rich husband of her own.

But unexpected tragedy hits when Anna dies giving birth to s stillborn son, and Aletta suffers from a violent encounter in the street. The family is badly scarred by this -- Hendrick focuses more on gambling and drinking, Francesca takes on the chores of mothering her family, Aletta withdraws emotionally, and only Sybylla seems to remain unchanged. But as the three girls mature, we get to see them moving into the wider world of Amsterdam and Delft.

Most of the story centers around Francesca, and her growing talent as an artist. She seems to be unaware of her own beauty, and wants to excell and make a name for herself as an artist. But it seems that her father Hendrick is reluctant to see her skills improve and have her apprenticed, either to herself or someone else. When one of the rich merchants of Amsterdam, Ludolf van Deventer, sees a painting of her as the goddess Flora, he offers to help the Visser family, including seeing Francesca apprenticed to none other than Jan Vermeer in the town of Delft. Francesca faces a long separation from Pieter van Doorne, a young farmer of tulips, but she is also certain that one day she and Pieter will be together...

The other two sisters are not neglected as well. Aletta decides that to trust in having her future in anyone else's hands is too dangerous, and so she struggles to master her artistic talents by herself, and sells her own paintings secretly. When her father discovers this, he destroys her work, and banishes her from the house to fend for herself. Sybylla is the bit player in this threesome, and unfortunately doesn't get much of the story for herself.

Set against the world of art, with Jan Vermeer as one of the main characters, and with appearances by Rembrandt, this makes for a very satisfying read for me. Laker knows the world of the Dutch artists and merchants well, and manages to weave in the history of the time as well. There's all sorts of little snippets about daily life, the customs of the time, the arrangement of the guilds. For those who don't think that women could work and live on their own, I'm happy to say that Laker didn't make her story up -- women were a growing force in Holland at the time, enjoying more economic freedom than most women in Europe at the time. Her knowledge of art really glows here, and I was easily able to identify the works of art that she describes. But with freedom also comes the darker side, especially with one of the villains of the piece, Geertryd, who is one of the nastier characters that I come across in fiction of late. What finally sold the book to me as a 'keeper' was the rich depictions of the story, and the fact that Laker makes her characters very human and ordinary -- everyone has flaws here, from ego, pride, jealousy and then mixes it all in with ambition, talent, love and generosity.

The biggest problem that I have with this one is that some of the main characters are a bit flat. Sybylla, especially, isn't much more than a gadfly, even towards the end of the novel, and with her two sisters so richly fleshed out, it was a real disappointment. Another problem that I had was with the description of the Prince of Orange, who makes a brief but important appearance -- he's shown as a tall, commanding man, when in reality he was a short, pretty ugly man with a brilliant mind for generalship and a wise sense of politics. It's a minor point, but it's still annoying to find a lapse in research. Another problem was that every now and then the writer breaks off to explain something in terms of action, instead of incorporating it into the story, and it gets jarring after a while. It was these mistakes that kept the novel from being a five star work, and dropped it down to a four star read overall.