Today, Amsterdam is the thriving capital city of the Netherlands with a metropolitan area population of 2,480,394 people and millions of tourists who visit each year. Known for its canal systems, many of which contribute to its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, the city is renowned for its arts, culture, and history.
Amsterdam’s history began as a fishing village in the 12th century, and by the 17th century, it had risen to a global power and major port city during the Dutch Golden Age at least in part because of its heavy involvement in the Transatlantic slave trade.
With a monopoly on the spice trade through the Dutch East India and Dutch West India Companies, the Dutch empire expanded and grew wealthy, making Amsterdam a major center of trade and finance. Though a series of conflicts in the 18th and early 19th century caused the city to decline, the city again expanded, and new canals were dug prior to the First World War. During World War II, Amsterdam and the Netherlands were occupied by Germany.
More than 100,000 Dutch Jews were murdered by the Nazis, occupying troops worked to brutally crush a spirited Dutch resistance movement, and Amsterdam’s population was cut off from the rest of the country and on the brink of starvation by the war’s end. Postwar, the city slowly rebuilt, and by the end of the 20th century, it had once again become a center for the arts, with museums and historical sites like the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House.
The books below will give you just a taste of Amsterdam’s history, through the eyes of novelists. Whether you’re interested in the machinations of the Golden Age, the harsh realities of the Dutch colonies, or the resistance fighters of World War II, these books will give a glimpse into the past of the city.
The Coffee Trader by David LissIn 1659, Amsterdam was home to one of the world’s first commodities exchanges, where fortunes were made, speculated, and lost on a daily basis. In this chaotic environment is Miguel Lienzo, a trader from the city’s community of Portuguese Jews who lost his wealth as sugar prices fluctuated. Desperate to restore his wealth, Miguel is persuaded to invest in a new and unknown commodity from the Dutch colonies: coffee. But in a world of secrets, betrayal, and scheming, there are never any guarantees of success. |
The Company Daughters by Samantha RajaramJana Beil has experienced many trials in her life. Having fled an abusive father, she is now on her own in 1620s Amsterdam, where she is desperate to find a way to make a living that doesn’t involve the city’s notorious brothels. Jana believes her luck has changed when she finds a job as a servant to the wealthy Master Reynst, but he soon loses his fortune in the city’s fickle markets, leaving both Jana and his daughter Sontje without a way to support themselves. Desperate, the two young women sign on to be shipped to the Dutch East Indies as brides for settlers from the East India Company, forcing them on a harrowing, ten-month journey to the other side of the world. |
The Miniaturist by Jessie BurtonEighteen-year-old Nella Oortman has been sent to Amsterdam to be the wife of merchant trader Johannes Brandt. Though Johannes is kind, he is also distant, leaving Nella alone or with his domineering sister as she tries to adjust to her new home. When Johannes gifts her a miniaturized version of their home, Nella is delighted and hires a miniaturist to decorate and replicate their lives in miniature. But as secrets begin to emerge, the extent of the power held by these miniature scenes over their real-life counterparts becomes a source of confusion, obsession, and danger. |
The Assault by Harry MulischMulisch’s arresting work traces the impact one horrific event has on a man’s life. When Anton is a 12 year old living in Haarlem, his house is burnt down and his entire family is killed by Nazi troops as retribution for the killing of a collaborator in the neighborhood. Beginning in 1945, the novel follows Anton into young adulthood, marriage, and middle age, as he slowly learns more about the details of what happened that night and why his neighbors made the choices that they did. |
The Interpreter From Java by Alfred BirneyAfter Arto Nolan’s death, his son Alan discovers his memoirs, giving him a window into the life of the distant and abusive father he grew up despising. Through his father’s writings, Alan discovers his father was an assassin, killing without question in service of the government. The memoirs lead Alan through postwar Dutch history, focusing on his father’s actions in the Indonesian War of Independence and the telling of the story of the final decline of the Dutch East Indies empire. |
The Cost of Sugar by Cynthia McLeodTraveling between the banking halls of Amsterdam and Dutch Suriname in the late 1700s, McLeod’s novel is narrated by Jewish step sisters, Eliza and Sarith, who are descendants of settlers to the Dutch colony. Through their eyes, readers see the high price the system of cultivating, shipping, and selling sugar extracted from enslaved plantation workers and the complex levels of social class and stratification that existed in the Dutch colonies. |
The Words in My Hand by Guinevere GlasfurdHelena Jans is a Dutch maid in 17th-century Amsterdam, who is employed in the house of Mr. Sergeant, an English bookseller. One day, Sergeant tells her a mysterious and particular lodger, called Monsieur, will soon arrive. As it turns out, Monsieur is René Descartes and the novel follows Descartes’s quest for reason, Helena’s desperate desire to learn to read and write, and the relationship that grows between the two of them. |
A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne KelmanIn 1941 Amsterdam, professor Josef Held is mourning the loss of his wife and keeping his eyes to the pavement as Nazis occupy his city and force Amsterdam’s Jewish citizens into ghettos. But after witnessing a neighbor being killed on his doorstep, Josef impulsively offers a hiding place to his Jewish student, Michael. As the occupation continues, Josef continues to uphold the facade of his life, while also trying to help Michael and his girlfriend escape to safety. |
If you’re looking for more books set in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, check out these translated works by Dutch authors!
