Literary Holland

After an hour trying to rush through security, being told that my plastic liquids bag was not 'regulatory size', being initially denied entrance onto the plane and a very well-received glass of wine, we were... finally... off to Amsterdam. A friend of mine recently moved out to The Hague, the capital city of the region of South Holland in the Netherlands, and so another friend and I couldn't bear to miss the opportunity to fly out there. We had both been to Amsterdam before but to go with a local is a different experience, I think everyone would agree, and this time we also got the chance to go to Delft, an adorable little city known for its traditionally Dutch city centre, its Delft blue pottery and the famous painter, Vermeer.

I think everyone is pretty familiar with the stereotypes, particularly with Amsterdam. Naturally we went there just for the scenery... Seriously, though, Holland is beautiful and they really do have windmills! Who knew? Aside from its more controversial associations, Holland provides a beautiful backdrop to a number of great books. Back in 1999, bestselling novel Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevallier was set in 17th Century Delft and followed Vermeer and his muse, whom the book, its 2003 film, 2008 play and the original painting of the same title is named after.

Other titles to have been set entirely or in part in the Netherlands include Alexandre Dumas' The Black Tulip, Albert Camus' The Fall and, arguably most famously, the best known diary published, that of Anne Frank.

The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the year the Nazis took control of Germany.  By 1942 the family was forced into hiding as the Nazi persecution of Jewish communities escalated, both in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. Anne kept a diary for two years until their hiding place was stormed by uniformed soldiers in 1944 and they were discovered. The house and annex where they lived are now part of a museum that you can visit in Amsterdam today. A terribly moving experience but one I feel we should probably all have at least one. Having read the book twice as a child, I feel maybe now I need to return to it as an adult and having now visited the city of Amsterdam and the museum.

To end on a less sombre note, the literary highlight of my trip? Spying a flag of JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy flying proudly from a house on one of Amsterdam's many canals. I shall leave you with that image and with you imagining my big geek face staring up at it like it was made of chocolate or percy pigs or chips or I dunno, something tasty...