A single day in Amsterdam, 1632. The Surgeons' Guild has commissioned a young artist named Rembrandt to paint Dr. Nicolaes Tulp as he performs a medical dissection. In the swirl of anticipation and intrigue surrounding the event, we meet an extraordinary constellation of men and women whose lives hinge, in some way, on Dr. Tulp's anatomy lesson. There is Aris the Kid, the condemned coat thief whose body is to be used for the dissection; Flora, his pregnant lover; Jan Fetchet, the curio dealer who acquires corpses for the doctor's work; the great René Descartes, who will attend the dissection in his quest to understand where the human soul resides; and the Dutch master himself, who feels a shade uneasy about this assignment.

Fascinating tale of the characters in Rembrandt's famous painting " The anatomy lesson of Dr Nikolaus Tulp, 1632" . Very well written and researched and I kept referring back to the painting as the story unfolds and imagining the characters and what life must have been like in 1632. Excellent read!

Going on a journey Down Under to a sweepstake winner! Happy reading

Received today in the post all the way from the UK! Thank you kinedi for sending me this book, I'm looking forward to reading it.

I have never read a book quite like this. I felt constant differing emotions from page to page. I found myself googling the paintings and the characters as I read. Quite fascinating.
This will either go to MicCanberra to read, or to the next bookcrossing meet up.

Released at the Canberra Bookcrossing meet up.

Rescued from the groaning Table of Book Bounty before the stack toppled over. Our new wheelchair-friendly meetup home in the rebranded Labor Club.

I do love a good art story. A famous painting and an interesting plot.

Thanks, Rosie! Glad you managed to coax a smile out of me; normally I don't like being photographed when I drunkenly score free books. Now we don't have to wear masks all the time that security camera footage is a worry again..

Also a chance to give this book a long trip. More later…

Picked up from the bookswap table at the unconvention.

I look forward to reading it, then shall release