Midnight Blue

By: Simone van der Vlugt

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Amsterdam 1654: a dangerous secret threatens to destroy a young widow’s new life.

Following the sudden death of her husband, twenty-five year old Catrin leaves her small village and takes a job as housekeeper to the successful Van Nulandt merchant family. Amsterdam is a city at the peak of its powers: science and art are flourishing and Dutch ships bring back exotic riches from the Far East.

When a figure from her past threatens her new life, Catrin flees to Delft. There, her painting talent earns her a chance as a pottery painter. Slowly, the workshop begins to develop a new type of pottery to rival the coveted Chinese porcelain – and Delft Blue is born. But when tragedy strikes, Catrin has a hard choice to make.

Rich and engrossing, Midnight Blue is perfect for fans of Tulip Fever and Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Critic reviews

‘A beautiful story about the fate of a seventeenth-century young woman and the early days of the blue-and-white pottery from Delft… You live and suffer with Catrijn. You recognise her dilemmas.’
Nederlands Dagblad (Netherlands Daily)

‘Van der Vlugt has immersed herself in the pottery painting of the time and weaves fact and fiction into a gripping story.’ Leidsch Dagblad (Leiden Daily)

'A clever story about a strong woman.' Leestafel

'A great historical novel, with thriller aspects and romance.' Biepmiepje

'The local colour, the fascinating story, the interesting history, definitely for me born in Delft, means you read MIDNIGHT BLUE in one sitting.' boekenbloggenderwijs.nl

Historical fiction with modern sensibilities

The story was interesting and with a nice flow. The characters were endowed with modern attitudes and these were intermittently distracting.

Excellent perfermance!

The performance was wonderful. I will be looking for other books performed by Imogen Church.

Could've been much better

Was hoping to learn about Delft Blue - learned some... Not much history or information was provided. The storyline was very weak too. I love historical novels, and this isn't something I will recommend to the other historical novel fans.

One of those books you wish will never end!

I loved this book so much, I am actually considering purchasing a physical copy to keep in my collection. The story is so well-written and I absolutely love all the historical references to porcelain. We visited the Royal factory in Delft and we loved it! And then of course, I love Imogen's amazing voice, so this was a definite winner!

Cozy Historical Fiction

Imogen Church did an excellent job as always, however I did feel like her voice was the only thing keeping me engaged in some parts. Some of the plot was a bit circular, in the sense that other characters or external circumstances were always helping the protagonist out of sticky situations. The historical context was woven into the story well in most cases, a few name drops felt forced in others.

But overall, it's worth the listen! A good lazy Sunday or slow walk sorta book