Tulip Fever (BBC Radio 4) [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Suddenly spring flowers are in the florists already: sweet-smelling hyacinths, daffodils, narcissi to brighten up drear wintry days. In the garden snodrops push through the sodden earth and winter pansies have survived snow and frost. Treat yourself to a bunch of cut tulips: observe their lipstick-coloured glossy petals and read 'Tulip Fever' by Deborah Moggach. The novel escorts you through rooms that seem familiar from Vermeer or Pieter de Hooch paintings; suddenly you are transported back to Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. A young artist, Jan van Loos, is painting a portrait of the wealthy Cornelis and his beautiful wife, Sophia. 'A petal drops, like a shed skirt, from one of the tulips' being painted: the scene is set. Sophia's betrayal and the reckless lovers' speculation on tulip bulbs trigger their undoing and bring down others around them including Maria, Sophia's maid and confidante, and her heart-broken love, Willem. Nothing is quite as it seems. Passion burns beneath seemingly restrained facades evoked by Dutch Masters; disguise and intrigue lurk within heavily-draped rooms with black and white floors and Delft tiles. Tension builds, fuelled by anxiety, secrecy and deception and the reader is compelled to reach the story's conclusion as each chapter twists and turns unexpectedly. Now visit the Wallace Collection and observe for yourself one of the pictures that inspired the author to write her best-selling novel:'Lady Reading a Letter' 1600-2 by Gerard Terborch. Who is the young woman wearing a fur-edged gown? The cloth is swept aside, her basket abandoned; a screens shields her privacy as she reads a letter intently.. Take time to study the sixteen reproduction paintings threading through the pages of the novel; note the intimate relationship between mistress and maid, tall houses by the canal, mysterious interiors: rooms within rooms, still life compositions of peeled fruit, foreboding skulls and billowing striped tulips as fresh as if painted yesterday, yet nearly four hundred years old. 'Mankind's hopes are fragile and life is therefore also short': words scratched on a glass in the first paragraph of the novel recall life's transcience. Paintings by Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch will be exhibited at a major exhibition at the National Gallery this summer. Who will then resist a re-reading of 'Tulip Fever'?

The Players:

Cornelius: The wealthy old merchant in Amsterdam.
Sophia: His young wife wanting more than wealt and riches.
Jan: The young painter hired by Cornelius to paint the couple and immortalize them.
Maria: The maid of the family with secrets' of her own. The one who knows all and sees all.
Willem: Maria's Lover
Jacob: Jan's apprentice
Gerrit: Jan's manservant
Tulip: The center stage of the entire story. As sinful as ever.

So these are the characters and the story takes place in 17th century Amsterdam, where tulips are a madness, where love is sometimes adulterous, where there is a yearning for a child, where there is betrayal, crimes of passion, blackmail, gamble, dreams, and no conscience.

This book kept me awake as I flipped the pages that revealed the genius of Ms. Moggach. With every chapter and every character introduced, Ms Moggach provides the readers with a tapestry so magnificient and amazing - that sometimes the locale just fades into background. The tulips hog the limelight for most part of the tale with the players and the description is beautiful. Before you know it, you wish that this story would not end. A must read for all those who like literary page turners!