Review: The Tulip Eaters by Antoinette van Heugten

The Tulip Eaters

by Antoinette van Heugten

Publisher: Harlequin

Pages: 368

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  It's the stuff of nightmares: Nora de Jong returns home from work one ordinary day to find her mother has been murdered. Her infant daughter is missing. And the only clue is the body of an unknown man on the living-room floor, clutching a Luger in his cold, dead hand. 

Frantic to find Rose, Nora puts aside her grief and frustration to start her own search. But the contents of a locked metal box she finds in her parents' attic leave her with as many questions as answers—and suggest the killer was not a stranger. Saving her daughter means delving deeper into her family's darkest history, leading Nora half a world away to Amsterdam, where her own unsettled past and memories of painful heartbreak rush back to haunt her. 

As Nora feverishly pieces together the truth from an old family diary, she's drawn back to a city under Nazi occupation, where her mother's alliances may have long ago sealed her own–and Rose's—fate.

Kritters Thoughts:  There are quite a few books that have many takes on the section of history involving Nazis and their destruction, but this one took a new take that I loved!  Nora is a daughter who is completely unaware of her past as her parents moved her from Amsterdam just after she was born and did not dwell on their past once they settled in Texas.  She comes home from work to find her young daughter is kidnapped and her mother has been murdered except a Dutch man is also dead in her home and here is where the story begins.

Moving easily through past and present, the author takes the reader and Nora through Nora's past to enable her to solve the mystery of what happened to her family's past that may have caused her mother's murder.  It was so interesting to hear a new side of Nazi involvement in people's lives, but there was more to this story beyond that part of history.  The theme of family was apparent in each chapter as Nora was trying to define what her family looked like and what was her new reality.

I read this book in one day, loved it!  It is my second book by Antoinette van Heugten and I am officially a fan of her writing as she tackles difficult subject matters without the book feeling too heavy.

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Shelton Interactive.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.