In this intricate work of historical fiction,
Nina Siegal transports us to the Golden Age of 1632 Amsterdam, reimagining the
story behind one of Rembrandt's famous paintings, "
The Anatomy Lesson of
Dr. Nicolaes Tulp." Over the course of one day—the day that the
thief Aris the Kid is to be executed—lives weave together as a wide
cast of characters fight over Aris' body. There are those who want it only for
science, such as Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, who's conducting an autopsy lecture at the
end of the night and René Descartes, who's in search of proof of the soul
inside the body. There are those who want it for art, such as 26-year-old
Rembrandt, commissioned to paint a portrait of Tulp's lecture. And lastly,
there is Aris the Kid's pregnant lover, Flora, who wants to give him a
"Christian burial" for no motivation other than love. Siegal
alternates between the perspectives of her characters to create a literary
page-turner that captures a story behind a masterpiece, but her talent is in
exploring the wrenching emotion of loss and the price that's paid for trying to
understand human life. "All of us sought his flesh," Rembrandt says
about Aris. "But he did not belong to any of us."