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I am delighted to announce that my novel HOUSE OF ROCAMORA set in 17th century Amsterdam and sequel to ROCAMORA is now available in soft cover, Kindle and asssorted ebooks through smashwords. House of Rocamora, a novel of the 17th century, continues the exceptional life of roguish historical Vicente de Rocamora, the historical Dominican friar, royal confessor for Holy Roman Empress María when she was Infanta of Spain, putative Inquisitor General, and master of disguise. After Rocamora arrives in Amsterdam at age forty-two, asserts he is a Jew, and takes the name Isaac, he must find his place in a land antipodal to Spain. He revels in a new freedom to become whatever he wants for the first time in his life. Rocamora makes new friends, both Christian and Jew, including scholars, men of power and, typically, the disreputable. He also acquires enemies in the Sephardic community who believe he is a spy for the Inquisition or resent him for having been a Dominican.As Isaac Israel de Rocamora, he learns the Dutch language, studies Medicine at Leyden and at age forty-six receives a license to practice. That same year Rocamora weds twenty-five year old Abigail Touro, his greatest love, who will give him nine children over the next eleven years. Rocamora has a bizarre encounter with Rembrandt, serves the House of Orange as physician, and advises Spinoza before the philosopher’s excommunication. He survives a murder attempt, learns from the great English physician Harvey, and a surprise visit from a childhood friend leads to an unusual business venture.A renowned physician, Rocamora must ensure his wife, children, and patients survive several plagues that kill tens of thousands in Amsterdam and more throughout the Dutch Republic. Life is never routine or dull for Rocamora from the day he arrives in Amsterdam until his last breath, with triumphs and sorrows, and the ultimate satisfaction of having begun a multi-generational dynasty of physicians.
Congratulations on the new release. Was there a hardcover edition released earlier? Also, did you have to do much in terms of site visits in preparing for the book?
No hard cover this time. Binding is costly, and a surprising numberof people prefer soft cover because it is easier to carry and read in bed.I had been in the Nertherlands and mostly in Amsterdam, but the geography is radically different now than the 17th century. A city in the north like Franeker is now 7 miles farther inland because of reclaimed land, common along the coast over the past 400 years.
I have been to Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Utrecht. It is a lovely place. I thought that the city of Bruges in Belgium was also something of a port city in the Middle Ages, but today is a ways away from the coast.
