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Five Great Novels set in 17th Century NETHERLANDS
9th April 2026
Five great novels set in 17th Century Netherlands. 17th Century Dutch life is often portrayed as a balancing act between unprecedented prosperity and austere morality. Contemporary authors captured the gritty, vibrant realism of Amsterdam’s streets – filled with sailors, merchants, and the “nouveau riche” – often using satire to warn against the corrupting influence of riches.
Later historical novelists (for example Jessie Burton or Tracey Chevalier), emphasise the claustrophobic domesticity and hidden tensions of the canal houses. They contrast the public image of a global maritime power with the private, scrutinised lives of women and servants.
Here is our selection:
Rembrandt’s Promise by Barbara Leahy
Hanging beside the door is a painting of a wedding feast. The light is centred on the bride; the guests are banished to the shade. That is how it is when he looks at her: all others fade away.
1642.
The Dutch Golden Age is underway, with Amsterdam at the height of its powers.
Geertje, an impoverished widow from Edam, enters a melting pot of wealth and culture when she becomes nursemaid in the house of renowned painter Rembrandt.
After Rembrandt’s wife dies, Geertje is drawn deeper into his world and despite her friends’ warnings, she begins a passionate affair with the master of light and shadow, with devastating results.
Based on the true account of a wronged woman who demanded justice, with themes of feminism, loss, ambition and redemption, this is a remarkable debut, perfect for fans of sumptuous historical fiction.
Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
Set in 1630s Amsterdam, it begins with a typical Renaissance love triangle: a wealthy, elderly merchant, Cornelis Sandvoort, his beautiful but frustrated young wife Sophia and the painter who enters their life, Jan van Loos. Commissioned to paint the happy couple’s portrait, Jan becomes embroiled in a series of emotional and financial speculations which are to change the character’s lives forever. Tulip Fever is a delightfully conceived story which offers a new dimension to what really goes on within the apparently placid domestic interiors of the canvases of 17th century Dutch Art.
Rembrandt’s Mirror by Kim Devereux
A stunningly imagined debut novel about the turbulent world of the master painter Rembrandt and the three women who shaped his life, seen through the eyes of his last great love and muse – a lowly housemaid
“Hendrickje, a girl from a strict Calvinist family leaves her provincial home to find work as a housemaid. She enters Rembrandt’s flourishing workshop five years after the death of the great artist’s wife, an event that continues to haunt him. It is a house full of secrets and desires, and Hendrickje soon witnesses a sexual encounter between Rembrandt and Geertje, his implacable housekeeper. She is shocked to the core by their intense carnality and yet, slowly, she is drawn to Rembrandt by the freshness with which he perceives the world and the special freedom he seems to possess. Rembrandt is a man of dark corners, strange passions and a ruthlessness born from his need to put his art first. An involvement with him could be her ruin or her liberty. Rembrandt’s Mirror explores the three women of Rembrandt’s life, and the towering passions of the artist, seen through the eyes of his last, great love, Hendrickje.”
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
An international bestseller with over two million copies sold, this is a story of an artist’s desire for beauty and the ultimate corruption of innocence.
17th Century Holland. When Griet becomes a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer in the town of Delft, she thinks she knows her role: housework, laundry and the care of his six children. But as she becomes part of his world and his work, their growing intimacy spreads tension and deception in the ordered household and, as the scandal seeps out, into the town beyond.
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed . . . On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways . . . Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall? Beautiful, intoxicating and filled with heart-pounding suspense, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.
Enjoy our selection of novels set in 17th Century Netherlands.
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