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Midnight Blue: A gripping historical novel about the birth of Delft pottery, set in the Dutch Golden Age
Литагент HarperCollins
Amsterdam 1654: a dangerous secret threatens to destroy a young widow’s new life.Following the sudden death of her husband, twenty-five year old Catrin leaves her small village and takes a job as housekeeper to the successful Van Nulandt merchant family. Amsterdam is a city at the peak of its powers: science and art are flourishing in the Golden Age and Dutch ships bring back exotic riches from the Far East.When a figure from her past threatens her new life, Catrin flees to Delft. There, her painting talent earns her a chance as a pottery painter. Slowly, the workshop begins to develop a new type of pottery to rival the coveted Chinese porcelain – and Delft Blue is born. But when tragedy strikes, Catrin has a hard choice to make.Rich and engrossing, Midnight Blue is perfect for fans of Tulip Fever and Girl with a Pearl Earring.
TRANSLATED BY JENNY WATSON
Copyright (#u18208c5c-ed08-5520-b19b-6e06bd01a38a)
Harper
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in the Netherlands by Ambo Anthos 2016
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Dutch Foundation for Literature.
Copyright © Simone van der Vlugt
Translation copyright © Jenny Watson
Map of Delft: De Agostini / Biblioteca Ambrosiana / Getty Images
Simone van der Vlugt asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books
Source ISBN: 9780008212100
Ebook Edition © April 2017 ISBN: 9780008212124
Version: 2017-01-19
Table of Contents
Cover (#u1b84af49-5579-5107-b26e-60e9ac7cbab9)
Title Page (#ue1e4e45d-74d8-5584-867a-112660f1f661)
Copyright (#uae2af97a-d3e9-5b5d-b3d2-46baf2eeb528)
Map (#uc70b1ba5-e70a-5e55-a352-c79b5e4e28c8)
Chapter 1 (#u6856c1e9-70d3-5240-84dc-362e1e9ac801)
Chapter 2 (#u4f404aa0-364b-5a42-9d5d-1e41e8231b11)
Chapter 3 (#ufe58cc02-5e95-5eea-adcd-d5dcb347e21d)
Chapter 4 (#u4cd4554a-d1f3-582a-bd75-126d14d00922)
Chapter 5 (#u1ef37b40-72ad-535b-8cad-b4572fc9d95e)
Chapter 6 (#u76b2acd0-39f1-533a-86b3-1f4221f51ef0)
Chapter 7 (#u4f10b25e-76e4-5693-8045-896d47cdb81c)
Chapter 8 (#u56b121d7-36b6-5518-9244-830f5af8f87f)
Chapter 9 (#u990b7be2-5a20-510d-afb8-e1ff95c33bff)
Chapter 10 (#u24dc3adb-71bd-5397-a3a8-b9e00dba12bb)
Chapter 11 (#ud95d7f1a-eee9-5318-a6a9-a338f2e6608c)
Chapter 12 (#u244a5d40-6a85-57d5-801b-7c3cb41dfc50)
Chapter 13 (#u3ed0d0d3-f016-5248-8991-a613bdaebabf)
Chapter 14 (#u2fb3396a-5f1a-598b-9376-7e55a23e1a2e)
Chapter 15 (#uc7c727e2-4bb9-5a04-ad63-b0d1c8650280)
Chapter 16 (#u92e33d7d-fb3c-51d7-aaea-54c4ffac75d0)
Chapter 17 (#ue9ede5d0-7299-5c10-9739-356f291e7aae)
Chapter 18 (#u991c5311-259f-56f5-a77f-0d1ceee68f31)
Chapter 19 (#ub807effd-183d-5407-884e-c44fcc7382c8)
Chapter 20 (#u40042809-dd82-557f-86d0-78a1b0cca8e8)
Chapter 21 (#u1b4e11ac-effd-5f27-8e3b-2594eb542cce)
Chapter 22 (#ue27b3342-7cc6-5974-a733-a66cd8f9b85e)
Chapter 23 (#u9e71dade-166d-54c4-90c7-7f32e250e3dd)
Chapter 24 (#uafc8ed45-e86b-5dec-ba2b-eedf10069489)
Chapter 25 (#u5f79166e-e49c-5af9-a671-9dbe0d71b783)
Chapter 26 (#u56b8609b-f0f7-5096-aa86-56d4ab6b90dd)
Chapter 27 (#uc064d43a-1f09-518f-9f47-e9ef9de2ff9d)
Chapter 28 (#uefa0677a-04ac-5666-837a-96bec00f63d6)
Chapter 29 (#ud93260b4-3f42-5520-9a1d-98890d623d3f)
Chapter 30 (#ud2f97c96-746f-5e33-a5b4-72e362eddd44)
Chapter 31 (#u3baf7ed3-2383-548a-b47e-d9cf7ed94e8e)
Chapter 32 (#ub99bee9d-260c-5668-bc8f-2f6f2adc22e5)
Chapter 33 (#ub080f0ac-6cdd-53c3-a9d4-51a0e53a8882)
Chapter 34 (#u7386f575-f40f-58c0-b87b-a399f4f4c1df)
Chapter 35 (#ub023ce93-3f23-5486-9b85-86d5758408d4)
Chapter 36 (#u55c34f39-ac19-5fc5-ba4c-57120c16f010)
Chapter 37 (#u0ddd4494-8632-5233-b5b9-4353cc5ffdd5)
Chapter 38 (#u0b9f175b-c346-5e46-9d22-d10680b93beb)
Chapter 39 (#u9e45a58f-894d-562d-a517-53208b1920ab)
Chapter 40 (#ufcbab5e1-3138-5905-8a85-650363f4f772)
Chapter 41 (#u7395e4d3-1c8f-5d4c-adab-3f7a4bcfe0d2)
Chapter 42 (#u5c3ae941-0a2d-517a-962c-0ea994d10ab4)
Chapter 43 (#u9a7851f7-c679-5d1a-bb1d-bf589fba4115)
Chapter 44 (#u5805462b-af55-5cbf-b678-b8d53d990f68)
Chapter 45 (#u8aab0115-29fc-591b-b51b-dc80c2b32b13)
Chapter 46 (#u579e4abe-eb22-594d-8d54-e9db20dba04f)
Chapter 47 (#u9c038b64-c976-59d9-9005-8993e1e63cb1)
Chapter 48 (#udd00b02a-ae35-5a05-9f42-d8f59e4d9c62)
Glossary (#u6327e244-db35-549d-a470-260b2be2a83c)
Afterword (#ub26b91cf-b716-5609-b100-682b3d0d8c9f)
Suggested Further Reading (#uc170c972-f6df-56b4-a1d4-5c7ce378ac17)
Reading Group Questions (#u8fa033df-62c6-5d4f-ac18-1cd4617e7dc8)
Acknowledgements (#uf8e36b99-3900-5389-b5a1-cc35999ffacd)
About the Author (#u21b7b33f-3204-5761-9025-362a7bf8d665)
About the Publisher (#u982f1110-108d-5061-ab8a-cc87c5df7ff1)
1 (#u18208c5c-ed08-5520-b19b-6e06bd01a38a)
De Rijp, March 1654
The funeral was a week ago and I still feel more relieved than anything else. I know that’s indefensible, that I should be grieving, but it’s impossible.
I stand with my arms folded, gazing out of the top half of the kitchen door at the fields and meadows surrounding the farm, but don’t really see them.
It should never have come to this. Looking back, I can’t understand what came over me that night. For years I’d thought of Govert as just another man from the village, not someone I paid any particular attention to. I never gave him much thought at all. Not that he wasn’t an attractive man, in a certain way he was. The first time I noticed him was at the village fair, when he pulled me up to dance and held me to him. I’d been drinking, of course I had been drinking, but not so much that I couldn’t hear his heavy breathing or feel his body pressing against mine, his muscular arms clasping me so tentatively.
With every turn our hips brushed and the grip with which he steered me through the other dancing couples tightened. It was an exciting feeling. I realised he was in love with me. The off-putting way he stared at me whenever we passed one another, with that furrowed brow of his, had been an expression of desire rather than disapproval.
Did I feel flattered by his attention? Had I turned down too many potential suitors in the hope of something better? Was I afraid of being a spinster all my days? Or was I in love at that moment?
When he took my hand in his and led me outside to a quiet corner of the orchard I didn’t protest.
Govert was happy when I finally told him, four months later, that I was pregnant, all set to marry me and start a family. As a widower of around forty and not without means, he was a fair prospect, even if he wasn’t what I’d pictured.
Not that there was much choice. One moment of madness at the fair, one moment of total lunacy, and my future was set. Gone was the chance to someday leave the village and begin a new life, gone were my dreams.
The worst thing was that I wondered what I’d even seen in him that night. Whatever it had been, the next morning it was gone too.
We were married a month later, and six weeks after that my pregnancy ended in a premature birth. The child, a boy, was stillborn. That was over a year ago too.
And now Govert himself is lying beneath the cold, dark earth. The only mirror in the house is turned to the wall and the shutters have been closed for weeks. Today I’m opening them again. I let the morning light stream in with a feeling of utter pleasure. The living room, which was packed with visitors for days, is eerily quiet. I’ve lived in De Rijp all my life, and the support of relatives, neighbours and friends is heart-warming. My in-laws were notably absent. They probably find it hard to accept that I’m about to inherit all of Govert’s property after one year of marriage. It’s understandable, but there’s nothing I can do about it. And God knows I earned that inheritance.
I allow my gaze to wander around the room, from the round table next to the window to the fireplace and the furniture I painted myself. Sunlight falls on the flagstone floor and brings a little warmth. Not much, it’s only the beginning of March. The smoke drifts along the beams hung with sausages and bacon and up into the loft, which is still half full of winter stores.
It’s strange to have the house to myself, but I have no time to take it in. There’s work to be done and now that Govert’s gone there’s even more than usual.
Although I have a maid and a farmhand, there’s plenty left for me to do. Every day’s the same. I milk the cows, feed the pigs and chickens, tend the vegetable patch, churn the butter and make the cheese. I use the remaining time to wash and mend clothes, spin and weave and, very occasionally, to paint.
Now and then, when I glance at the shiny surface of a copper kettle, I catch a glimpse of my mother, her braided hair under a white cap. She’s always busy, always tired. I’m twenty-five but I feel much older.
