Fiction Books
Amsterdam's history, culture and romantic architecture make for the perfect backdrop to fiction books of all genres; from Golden Age trading tales to cloak and dagger stories and hedonistic grunge fiction.
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
Set in The Netherlands' first Golden Age, Amsterdam 1659, Portuguese refugee Miguel Lienzo has made and lost his fortune in Amsterdam. Enticed by a woman to invest in coffee, a beverage still unknown in Europe he takes the plunge, dodging creditors, the Jewish Council and surviving the market.
www.davidliss.com
The Amsterdam Connection by Sue Leather
If neither Dutch nor English is your native language try reading The Amsterdam Connection, a level 4 book by the Cambridge English Readers learning collection. Journalist Kate Jensen travels to Amsterdam to investigate her friend Max's death, but of course someone doesn't want her to discover the truth.
www.cambridge.org/amsterdam-connection
Rock Bottom by Michael Shilling
Washed up has-beens only two years after they were bound for glory, LA band the Blood Orphans have hit rock bottom. What's worse, they've hit it in Amsterdam on the last date of their European tour.
On their final day together they find themselves in on various paths of destruction, excitement, stupidity and just maybe redemption.
http://costofsteam.blogspot.com
Porno by Irvine Welsh
The sequel to Trainspotting, Renton owns a nightclub in Amsterdam and so some of the book is set here. No prizes for guessing it's not all tulips and clogs from Welsh. Each chapter authored by Renton (the other key characters tell their stories too) begins with "The Whores of Amsterdam Part…"
www.irvinewelsh.net
Apothecary's House by Adrian Mathews
Set in modern day Amsterdam an art historian begins looking into the true ownership of a Nazi-looted painting hung in the Rujksmuseum. She begins receiving dangerous threats, but presses on, only to discover secret symbolism within the painting.
www.amazon.com/Apothecarys-House
The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan
Not another guide book but rather a murder mystery where Amsterdam character is at the fore. An American crime novelist living in Amsterdam doubles as a burglar to a small clientele on commission. He is hired to commit a robbery by an unknown source and is rightfully suspicious before a Cary Grant-style plot unfolds.
www.thegoodthief.co.uk
Blue Mondays by Arnon Grunberg
A bored young Jewish man, tired of his parents' bickering, drops out of school only to fail in meaningless office jobs. He loses touch with his girlfriend and turns to indulging in prostitutes from escort services and brothels in the red light district. True 90s grunge fiction that sees the city through the eyes of the disenchanted.
http://www.arnongrunberg.com
The Darkroom of Damocles by W.F. Hermans
One man's paranoid trip into treason and deception during German-occupied Holland, The Darkroom of Damocles was written in 1958 and only in 2007 did it get the translation treatment - better late than never.
www.amazon.co.uk/Darkroom-Damocles
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