Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach

Paperback Edition

Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach is a work of historical fiction that has been sitting in my 'to be read' pile since March 2013. Anyone who has been following my blog for awhile knows I'm a fan of historical fiction!! So, once again in an effort to read more of the older books I've acquired and not yet read, I made it a priority to read Tulip Fever in 2019.

Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach is a little bit on the slow side in parts. Additionally, some of the storyline is also a bit predictable in parts as well. However, I did enjoy the short chapters. The characters are decent. The writing is good and the plot is interesting enough to keep you wanting to know how the novel is going to end... And Tulip Fever's ending is a good one.

Favorite quotes from Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach include the following ones:

"Life is short; time is fleeting. Grasp it while you can, said the painter. And for once Cornelis has to agree with him." page 271

"And love, as we know, is a form of madness." page 116

"There is no heaven, only a spilled deck of cards. Life is a gamble; it is nothing but a handful of tulip bulbs, a brace of kings. Even the righteous can draw the joker from the pack." page 104

"His world offers no vocabulary for doubt. He has not admitted it in so many words to himself.  All he knows is that loss has weakened rather than reinforced his faith, and the only sure thing to which he can cling lies in his featherbed. " page 22 

The following is a plot summary for Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach from Amazon:

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.

I am giving Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!