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Book 1: The Louise trilogy Winner of the Bisto Book of the Year Award 2004 As the daughter of a wealthy Dutch family, Louise Eeden knows that certain things are expected of her. When her father commissions a famous artist to paint her portrait, she reluctantly agrees. But lately things have started to move too fast in her life. Somehow everyone believes she is engaged to Reynier de Vries; a marriage that will bring about the merger of two respected pottery businesses.In the studio with Master Haitink and his gangly apprentice, Pieter, Louise unexpectedly finds freedom to be herself. But someone has been watching her every move, and her deepening friendship with Pieter has not gone unnoticed. Behind the scenes, a web of treachery and deceit is gradually unravelling, leading to a brutal and shocking confrontation. And fate has yet another surprise in store for Louise Eeden.… (more)
User reviews
The small Dutch town of Delft once held the honor of excellent brewing.
The well developed characters provide a framework of a time abundant in craft and art in both Holland and Delft. When the father of Louise Eeden, the heir to one of the richest pottery establishments, commissions a portrait of Louise, her view of life is forever transformed.
While the artist who paints Louise is fictional, the author uses actual characters such as Vermeer, Rembrandt, Carel Fabrituius and the great philosopher Benedict Spinoza as references.
In addition, when reading this book, I learned of the explosion known as the Delft Thunderclap wherein over 200 houses were leveled and the great artist Carel Fabritius and his family were killed.
Today Fabritius' painting The Gold Finch is located in the Mauritshaus Museum in the Hague. It hangs by Vermeer's View of Delft: