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Title: Tulips, Dutch art, and romance
Review: The story is about a young woman married to a much older man, a solid Amsterdam merchant. As was common, he commissions their portrait, and, inevitably, Sophia and Jan, the painter, fall in love and begin an adulterous affair. At the same time, the maid Maria becomes pregnant. Sophia comes up with a plan that will allow her to be with her lover. (I won't give it away - you'll have to read it.) But it takes money. And so they get caught up in Tulipmania.Moggach does an excellent job of bringing 1630's Amsterdam to life. These are the people in Rembrandt's and Vermeer's paintings, in the flesh.It's an interestingly constructed book as well. The chapters are short, each being told through the eyes of a different character.The last few chapters seem, in some ways, to be tacked on, as though the author felt, "I must decide what happens to everyone and tell my readers." No loose ends here.
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