- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd; First Edition, First Impression edition (6 May 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 043400779X
- ISBN-13: 978-0434007790
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.7 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 354,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Tulip Fever
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Amsterdam of the early 17th century has been forever immortalised by the serene, precise domestic realism of the canvases of Vermeer and Rembrandt, and has been studied with meticulous care by Simon Schama in his marvellous book The Embarrassment of Riches. What Schama identified at the heart of the opulent display of conspicuous consumption in Dutch still-life painting was an anxiety about wealth and commodification which ran throughout 17th-century life in the Low Countries, an argument beautifully complemented by Ann Pavord's marvellous book on The Tulip.
Deborah Moggach's novel Tulip Fever gives both Schama and Pavord's studies a compelling fictional twist. 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. Interspersed with 16 beautifully reproduced Dutch paintings, Tulip Fever is a delightfully conceived story which offers a new dimension to what really goes on within the apparently placid domestic interiors of such canvases. --Jerry Brotton
Review
" Beautifully written, a verbal kaleidoscope that flicks rapidly through vivid sensual experience."
--"The Independent on Sunday"
" Spirited and ingenious...Clever, spry, and sad in equal measure."
--"The Telegraph"
" Moggach reproduces the coded language of 17th-century Dutch art with subtle artfulness. At the same time, she tells a truly thrilling love story."
--"The Financial Times"
" Moggach's writing is as vivid as a splash of Vermeer's lemon yellow."
--"The Times"
" A gorgeous novel: both funny and tragic, full of sharply drawn characters and equally sharp insight into the transforming power of love--which can be as destructive as it is addictive."
--"The Mail"
--"The Independent on Sunday"
" Spirited and ingenious...Clever, spry, and sad in equal measure."
--"The Telegraph"
" Moggach reproduces the coded language of 17th-century Dutch art with subtle artfulness. At the same time, she tells a truly thrilling love story."
--"The Financial Times"
" Moggach's writing is as vivid as a splash of Vermeer's lemon yellow."
--"The Times"
" A gorgeous novel: both funny and tragic, full of sharply drawn characters and equally sharp insight into the transforming power of love--which can be as destructive as it is addictive."
--"The Mail"
"From the Hardcover edition." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel I found had an extremely complex plot, yet wonderfully simple to follow. It's an historical narrative set in seventeenth century Holland, yet had all the suspense, thrill, and deceptions of a twentieth century love-triangle. A very atmospheric story told imaginatively and beautifully, in a way that almost makes the reader feel they are sat reading this book in a bed of tulips!
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a few of the other reviewers have already said I believed the hype and bought this book. What a disappointment. I have always believed the cardinal sin of reading was skipping bits, but I don't think I'd be here today if I hadn't skimmed over paragraphs in this turgid book. The narrative is plain boring and the "romance" passionless and unbelievable. I actually made it to the final page and the ending just about reached the heights of a Mills and Boon pot-boiler. Does anyone else feel that reviewers are afraid to say what a book is really like when the general consensus is that only gushing praise will do ?
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Totally brilliant! This is a perfect book. It's literary, elegant and thought-provoking (you also learn a lot about the period) but is written in a simple, page-turning style that keeps you on the edge of your seat as much as any modern thriller. Centring on a love triangle, the plot has twists and turns that make your heart beat, as it hurtles towards an ending that is simultaneously tragic and farcical. I had thought that Deborah Moggach just wrote trashy Aga Sagas but I think she has finally found a chance to show off her true genius (maybe a few of the other ChickLit novelists should follow!). I can't wait to see what she produces next.
The novel also includes quotes and, unusually, beautiful coloured illustrations of paintings of the period, giving you a real sense of atmosphere.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Prompt service
This was sent by a private seller and received next day. I too always send off book immediately , unlike some of the big boys who try to catch our attention on Amazon!
Published 1 month ago by Anne Bridget Bloomfield
"All painting is illusion"
There are a number of reasons why relatively few authors choose to write in the present tense. One is that it's rubbish. Read more
Published 2 months ago by The Big Pink One
A very good read
I loved this book. It is my first Deborah Moggach book and I cant wait to read the others. I thought the plot quite brilliant,also I loved the quotations before each chapter, for... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Molly Mc
Appalling rubbish
I still trying to finish this 'novel', I am not sure I ever will. I don't think I have read a worse book and that is saying something. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Catherine Howard-Dobson
tulip fever
It is not very often I read a book a second time but after a lapse I am reading it again with as much interest historically and cliff hangers leading to a cry out aloud "don't go... Read more
Published 18 months ago by karen
An exciting read that was well researched
This is a book that you can romp through. It paints a vivid picture of the period and the place, but the interweaving stories in the setting develop in a totally unexpected and... Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2010 by G. Bransby-Zachary
Touching but no depth.
It is five years since I have read a book by this author and I found it rather different from previous titles I have read by her. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2007 by LindyLouMac
A flawed jewel
This book is like one of the paintings that fill its pages (both in the narrative, and in the colour plates displaying representative works by Rembrandt and Vermeer etc). Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2006 by HLT
Interesting historical drama
I recently read this for my local book group, and was surprised at the division the book caused. People either loved it and found it a pleasure to read or hated it. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2003 by Rachel
Wonderful Background, Trite Story
In 1630s Amsterdam, fortunes were made and lost speculating on, of all things, tulip bulbs. In fact, comparisons are sometimes made between the Tulip Crash of 1637 and the stock... Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2002
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