Why did I love this book?
Delve into Amsterdam in 1660, a time period I wasn’t familiar with. The detailed descriptions place you right there as you meet Anneke, a young lady with ambition to a man’s field—cartography. She wants to be more than just a colorist. Anneke wants to draw her own map and include it in Blaeu’s Atlas Maior.
Just as crucial to Anneke’s story is her mother, whose own artistic ambitions were thwarted. She’s very proud of her daughter. In fact, her own ambition inspires her daughter. However, her father won’t admit to either his wife or daughter’s talent since his career is less than stellar. Family secrets are discovered as the novel progresses.
1 author picked The Map Colorist as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
In 1660, Amsterdam is the trading and map-printing capital of the world. Anneke van Brug is one of the colorists paid to enhance black-and-white maps for a growing number of collectors. Her artistic talent brings her to the attention of the Blaeu printing house, and she begins to color for a rich merchant, Willem de Groot. But Anneke is not content to simply embellish the work of others; she longs to create maps of her own. Cartography, however, is the domain of men-so it is in secret that she borrows the notes her father made on a trip to Africa…