Books

Anne Frank's diary and Girl with a Pearl Earing are probably the best known books set in Holland but there are many other that will give you a test of the country and its history.

Books About or Set in Holland Book Shops

Books About or Set in Holland

Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City	Geert Mak	Very readable, entertaining and informative history of Amsterdam. Highly recommended.
Girl with a Pearl Earing	Tracey Chevalier	An insight into the Vermeer family told through the eyes of Griet, the young daughter of a tilemaker in seventeenth century Holland who obtains her first job, as a servant in Vermeer's household.
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl	Anne Frank	In July 1942, thirteen-year-old Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the horrors of Nazi occupation, went into hiding in an Amsterdam warehouse. Over the next two years Anne vividly describes not only the daily frustrations of living in such close quarters, but also her thoughts, feelings and longings as she grows up.
Roses From The Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank	Carol Ann Lee	Probably the best biography of the young Jewish diarist.
Various Titles	Nicolas Freeling	A series of crime novels staring Amsterdam cop Inspector Piet Van der Valk, an irascible detective engaged in ordinary crime, political intrigue and international affairs.
In Babylon: A Novel	Marcel Moring	A funny, quirky chronicle of a family of Dutch clockmakers that is a bestseller in the Netherlands
The Assault	Harry Mulisch	The execution of a collaborator and Nazi retaliation on the family of twelve-year-old Anton Steenwijk have lasting repercussions in Anton's life as he learns, through chance encounters, the truth of one harrowing night.
Rituals	Cees Nooteboom	One of Holland's best-known writers. Rituals, set in Amsterdam, is about the passing of time and the different ways of controlling the process.
The Devil's Playground	Stav Sherez	Fast-paced crime thriller set in Amsterdam.
Jana (A Tale of Decadence)	David Veronese	When Eddie Verlaine, American expatriate, hustler and small-time crook, meets a femme fatale named Jana in Amsterdam, he is drawn into a drugs conspiracy which involves Eddie transporting a large supply of drugs to London.

Book Shops

Athenaeum	Spui 14-16, 1012 XA map The Amsterdam bookshop on the lively Spui boasts a large stock not only in the literary field but also in various academic fields, such as (classical and modern) languages and the humanities, keeping in frequent contact with staff of both the University of Amsterdam and Amsterdam's city college. The Athenaeum Nieuwscentrum offers foreign and local newspapers and magazines plus a selection of travel guides and books on design, jazz and pop music.
American Book Center	Spui 12, 1012 XA map English language books. Shops in Amsterdam and The Hague.
Waterstones	Kalverstraat 152, 1012 XE map Four story bookshop in the centre of Amsterdam selling English language books, magazines and newspapers.
Amazon	It's worth remembering that Amazon UK and Amazon US deliver to the Netherlands.