Tulip Fever

The plot of Moggach's 13th novel neatly matches the speculative frenzy of the period, careening from one improbable thrill to the next. It was, to be sure, a time of stunning economic lunacy, when a single Semper Augustus bulb could be sold for "six fine horses, three oxheads of wine, a dozen sheep, two dozen silver goblets and a seascape by Esaias van de Velde." The author expertly dabs in this sort of period detail, and her chapter epigraphs quote some charming 17th-century Dutch sources on morals and conventional wisdom. Indeed, it's these quasi-surreal touches--whales washing up on the coast, chimney pots toppling into the street, women rubbing goose fat into their hands--that make the lovers' overheated sentiments so plausible. "For centuries to come," the narrator says, "people will gaze at these paintings and wonder what is about to happen." Tulip Fever gives us the chance to do exactly that. --John Ponyicsanyi

Product Description
A tale of art, beauty, lust, greed, deception and retribution -- set in a refined society ablaze with tulip fever.

In 1630s Amsterdam, tulipomania has seized the populace. Everywhere men are seduced by the fantastic exotic flower. But for wealthy merchant Cornelis Sandvoort, it is his young and beautiful wife, Sophia, who stirs his soul. She is the prize he desires, the woman he hopes will bring him the joy that not even his considerable fortune can buy.

Cornelis yearns for an heir, but so far he and Sophia have failed to produce one. In a bid for immortality, he commissions a portrait of them both by the talented young painter Jan van Loos. But as Van Loos begins to capture Sophia's likeness on canvas, a slow passion begins to burn between the beautiful young wife and the talented artist.

As the portrait unfolds, so a slow dance is begun among the household's inhabitants. Ambitions, desires, and dreams breed a grand deception -- and as the lies multiply, events move toward a thrilling and tragic climax.

In this richly imagined international bestseller, Deborah Moggach has created the rarest of novels -- a lush, lyrical work of fiction that is also compulsively readable. Seldom has a novel so vividly evoked a time, a place, and a passion.

Wealthy merchant, Cornelis Sandvoort, and his young wife, Sophia, have a good marriage. Sophia is ever grateful to Cornelis for saving her family from destitution, while Cornelis feels Sophia has given him another chance at life after the death of his first wife and two sons. But with there being 40 years of age between them, Sophia feels, no matter how grateful she is, that she has traded one life of imprisonment for another. The couple is childless despite Sophia's dutifulness, and in the hopes of achieving some sort of immortality, Cornelis has commissioned young, passionate artist Jan van Loos to paint their portrait.

During their sittings, something transpires between Jan and Sophia. Their love for each other becomes frantic, like another form of life support. Desperate to be together, Jan and Sophia concoct a devious plan. Lies, lust, greed and the dizzying passion of the tulip craze create an intoxicating and dangerous mix. What ensues after is the devastating windfall of their deception and selfishness.

Very intense and fast once the love affair begins. Each chapter is narrated by a different character so readers are treated to the minds of all involved. I believe Deborah Moggach has written a solid, deftly written piece of fiction. Although there are bits of Harlequin-ness, the historical references; allusions to actual Dutch paintings; sharply defined characters; and lush, vivid backdrop surely make up for it. An exceptional and sensuous feast for the mind.


Decent...   July 26, 2001
K. Melissa Galyon (Rockwall, Texas)
20 out of 22 found this review helpful

*Tulip Fever* is a fantastically quick read, set in mid-1600's Amsterdam. Tulips, originating in Turkey, have found their way to Amsterdam, where men and women alike catch the fever of growing, selling and trading these precious bulbs.

In the midst of the excitement, Cornelis and Sophia Sandvoort, ask a local painter by the name of Jan to paint their portrait. Sophia had been unable to bear children for Cornelis, and he saw this as his one method for achieving immortality. Meanwhile, the Sandvoort's maid, Maria, has fallen in love with Willem, who sells fish door-to-door, and they are about to embark on a new life together.

At the moment that Jan enters the Sandvoort home, everything changes for the five main characters. Deception, infidelity and lies permeate the household. The results cannot be undone, but forgiveness and healing must begin for everyone. Overall, an easy read and fairly enjoyable.


Not For Everyone, But Worth the Effort   July 13, 2000
kanga (New York, New York USA)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

The reviews are mixed about this book, and for good reason. It is probably one that you will either love or hate.

The story is told through the voices of the characters in turn, which can be a bit disjointed to start with when you are trying to get all the personalities sorted out in your mind. But the dizzying effect also adds to the sense of climax that is reached when all the threads of the story come together.

The historical detail is interesting and adds to the flavour of the story, but it is the characters that keep you reading.

Although the ending was never going to be happy and was not entirely unpredictable, there are unexpected twists and resolutions which keep your interest to the last page.

If you like historical fiction, if you like a love story, and can tolerate an ending you would not have chosen for the characters, then you will enjoy Tulip Fever.


It is fall, I need to plant my tulip bulbs...   September 8, 2001
Britt Arnhild Lindland (Norway)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

Last year I read Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. It was my best book of the year, and happily I could keep on reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. I loved both books, and when I saw Tulip Fever at my local book store I knew I had to buy it.
Now, a few day later the book is read from cover to cover, and I have to leave the 17th century world of Amsterdam and all it's inhabitants, paintings, lust, love and intrigues to come back to today's Norway.
Tulip Fever tells different stories, but they are all woven together through the main character Sophia. She is a young woman married to the old and prosperous Cornelis. He deeply loves his young and beautiful wife, and wants a painting to be made of them to take care of her beauty for ever. The painter, young and charming Jan Van Loos falls in love with Sophia, and as the portrait grows so does the passion between Jan and Sophia.
This is a surprisingly story with more secrets and surprises as the chapters unfold.
Every chapter starts with a famous sitat, and Deborah Moggach also uses sitats and famous people in the story. My favorite is when Cornelis and Sophia visits the painter to look at the finished portrait. Cornelis can't take his eyes from the beauty of his wife shown and says: "You have certainly caught her beauty.....The bloom on her cheeks, her freshness and youth like the dew on a peach. Who was it - Karel van Mander? Who, on seeing a still life tried to reach into the canvas and pluck the fruit......not realizing that this particular peach was not to be eaten"
Jan has already picked the fruit in his painting, is she to be eaten? You will have to read the story yourself, and I can promise you that you will not regret it.


Period charm with ymemento moriy ending   December 12, 2000
D. Zonderland (SF Bay Area)
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

In this lovely little book Amsterdam's Golden Age comes alive with its fools, drunks, painters, moralists, Calvinists, and capitalists.

The period and place are very well and engagingly described as backdrop to the story of an impetuous and impecunious painter and an unawakened, beautiful burgher's wife. Several Tulipomania legends are interwoven, including the famous one of a man who inadvertently consumed a fortune (though in the legend it's a sailor who hasn't been in Holland for several years).

This novel is a charming, fast read, consisting of short chapters that are written from different characters' perspectives. Through this device, their personalities are quickly but deftly drawn (the priggish painter's apprentice, the slightly smug neighbour's wife, the callow but sharp-eyed maid). The only problem is that the main protagonists also remain perhaps a bit too faintly and impressionistically sketched, rather than being portrayed with more verisimilitude, in a more highly detailed way -- which would be more stylistically and chronologically consistent with the style of portraiture prevalent at the time in Holland.

The final denouement should not have come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Amsterdam's history and geography, but the writer drew me into the story so well that the earlier hints were superseded by the red herrings and other fish that Moggach merrily layed out along her paths and canals of misdirection.

The "illustrations" to the book -- major period works, many of mistress and maid scenes -- are a wonderful addition, as are the almost throwaway lines about the later life of and scholarship about the works of the fictitious painter Jan van Loos. Altogether, a very enjoyable, entertaining book, even if the protagonists are not the most compelling thing about it.