The Tower of the Golden Age (Dutch edition)

(This book is only available in Dutch)

The year is 1645. Amsterdam is at the height of its power. But the center of the city is desolate. Next to the old, dilapidated town hall are the charred remains of the Nieuwe Kerk, which went up in flames in the morning of January 11. Reconstruction begins immediately. The ambitions literally reach to the sky. Mayor Willem Backer not only wants to restore the church, but also a tower more than a hundred meters high. After driving more than six thousand piles, the foundation stone of the tower can be laid in 1647.

But a year later, the tide is turning. Backer’s opponents argue for a new town hall, which quickly demands all the attention and financial resources. Internal divisions and international tensions lead to a fierce power struggle among the Amsterdam regents. The tower becomes a plaything in a conflict that exposes the divisions in the Republic to the very core. The stakes are nothing less than power over the richest city in the world, a conflict between merchant and pastor, between guilder and God.