A-Z Wednesday

Reading at the Beach is hosting A-Z Wednesday where bloggers take the time to highlight one book that starts with the letter of the day. This week is the letter G. I am getting around to this incredibly late today but I hope a few people still stop by to check this out because this is a very tempting book. :-)

The Golden Tulip by Rosalind Laker is sitting on my sooner rather than later tbr shelf waiting for me to pick it up. I pulled it out because it fits nicely into several of the reading challenges in which I am participating. It also has the distinction of being one of my "expandable books" which is what we've dubbed any and all books that found themselves at the bottom of the lake when the boat sank this summer. It was always a fairly long book (576 pages) but now it looks like it rivals War and Peace in length. And while it is historical fiction, it doesn't deal with Russia during the Napoleonic Wars, instead it deals with Holland during the time of Rembrandt and Vermeer. And I do have a weakness for art inspired books despite not being able to personally paint my way out of a paperbag.

Here's what amazon has to say:

Love, tulips, painting, Dutch patriotism and the dynamics of personal and political power inform Laker's sprawling saga, set in Holland during the time of Rembrandt and Vermeer (both of whom serve as secondary characters). Francesca is the eldest daughter of the painter Hendrik Visser and a talented artist in her own right. So is middle sister, Aletta, while the youngest, Sybella, is far more interested in marrying well. Hendrik is successful, but his drinking and gambling keep the family in penury. Once the girls' mother dies, Francesca has new responsibilities, which she must soon balance with an apprenticeship to a little-known Vermeer. Tulip grower Pieter van Doorne makes a delivery at the house one day while Francesca prepares to pose as flower goddess Flora for her father. Pieter is instantly smitten, but the man who commissioned the Flora painting, wealthy ship owner Ludolf van Deventer, has designs on Flora, as well as on the country's political future. Laker (To Dance with Kings) excels at broad-strokes portraiture, moving from 17th-century intrigue to intimate glimpses of daily life. The absorbing plot unfolds slowly and conveys real passion for both life and work.