Reviews

'The Naturalist Of Amsterdam' written by Melissa Ashley
🐛🐛🐛🐛

Cry count:
🦋3½

Thoughts:
🦋As soon as I could, I reserved this at the library. This is the second book I've read from the author, Melissa Ashley - the other being 'The Bee And The Orange Tree' - and two books in, I am already classing Melissa Ashley as a historical-fiction must-read author.

Positives:
🦋 Loveable character/s [particularly the protagonist Dorothea since that's who we spend the most time with]
🦋 The characters have realistic faults
🦋 Transporting [Melissa Ashley basically packed my bags and took me back in time]
🦋 Involving [at some point, I really fell into this story and I wasn't like I was reading the book, it was as if I was going through the story]

I Recommend if you like:
🦋Historical Fiction
🦋Slow pace [I know this scares many readers but I truly love it when it's done well and in this, it's done well]
🦋Character driven stories

ramai's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

tasmanian_bibliophile's review

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4.5

‘Oma, Ma, my sister, Johanna, and I had joined the Labadists at Walta Schloss only two seasons ago and I knew already that they did not like children.’

Set in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, this novel introduces us to Maria Sibylla Merian and her daughters Johanna and Dorothea Graff (known as Dortje), our narrator. Maria Sibylla Merian is a talented naturalist, an artist, and a restless soul. After joining the Labadists—a strict Protestant sect named after its French founder Jean de Labadie (1610–1674)— with her mother and daughters, she separates from her husband. After her mother dies, Maria Sibylla leaves the Labadists and moves to Amsterdam which was, at the time, at the centre of world trade. She then takes Dortje to Suriname where the Labadists had a community. Here, with Dortje’s help, Maria Sibylla immerses herself in understanding and drawing the metamorphoses of the native insects, and in learning about native medicine. Unfortunately, Maria Sibylla contracts malaria, and she and her daughters return to Amsterdam. Here, because she is unable to establish a business as a married woman, Maria Sibylla claims to be a widow. After Johanna marries, Maria Sibylla relies even more heavily on Dortje.

And what about Dortje? While she seems destined to live in her mother’s shadow, she does find happiness before tragedy strikes. As Maria Sibylla’s health fails, Dortje’s own knowledge as a naturalist becomes apparent. And it seems that Dortje’s commitment to preserving Maria Sibylla’s legacy will have a significant emotional and personal cost.

Before I picked up this novel, I knew nothing about Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) and her daughters Johanna (1668-1723) and Dorothea (1678-1743). Part way into the novel, I started searching online for some of the artworks referred to. And by the time I finished this novel, I wanted to know more. For those who are also interested, here’s a link:

Maria Sibylla Merian: pioneering artist of flora and fauna | British Museum

Ms Ashley brings Maria Sibylla, her daughters, and the period in which they lived to life. This was a golden age for Amsterdam, thanks to the Dutch East India Company. This is Ms Ashley’s third novel, and I have enjoyed them all.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Affirm Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

hannahmayreads's review

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

There is a lot of intricate detail in the Amsterdam sections of the book, and comparatively little about the voyages and Suriname, which I found disappointing. Add to this that beyond her mother, Dorothea's relationships lacked substance. I sensed a reluctance from the author to go to difficult places - there would be a large jump in time and we'd suddenly discover someone had died. Kim, who returns to Amsterdam with the family leaving behind her native Suriname, disappears from the narrative and we don't discover her fate until many chapters later which feels like an afterthought. The same with Philip, and Hanna's departure for Suriname. The sudden time jumps coupled with the slow pace were jarring, and wasn't able to engage with the text. It feels underbaked, lacking in comprehensive depth so I often felt myself drifting away.

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