#Utrecht

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Thea Beckman: Stad in de storm (Hardcover, Dutch language, 2017, Lemniscaat) 4 stars

Twenty-sixth edition

Our own city Utrecht in 1672-1674

4 stars

Lovely read, although a bit old-fashioned. I read this to our youngest child. It took some time to get into, because of the slightly archaic style and word-choices. Chapters describing the setting in particular suffered from this, while chapters with a lot of dialogue and/or action read much more smoothly.

The story is told by Hans, thirty years after the events, and is about him, his father - printer and bookseller - , and his friends during the Franco-Dutch War, the occupation by French forces, and the period shortly afterwards. The title ‘city in the storm’ also refers to one of the main events in the story. Historical figures like Louis the XIV, the De Witt brothers, William III, Bernhard von Galen - Bommen Berend - pass by, as well as the use of what we call the (old) Hollandse Waterlinie - a military defence line consisting of a combination …