The Gardens of Bomarzo
'The Gardens of Bomarzo' can be read both as a personal essay and as a study in cultural history, but above all it is a historical whodunit. Intrigued by the mysteries surrounding the Parco dei Mostri (Park of the Monsters) in the ancient Italian town of Bomarzo, Hella S. Haasse follows a trail that leads back to a nobleman of the sixteenth century who ordered twenty monsters to be sculpted in stone in his castle garden.
Non-FictionPrint
Original title
De tuinen van Bomarzo
Author
Hella S. Haasse
[object Object]
Rarely has the essence of the Renaissance been described so concisely yet so revealingly.
De Volkskrant
Hella S. Haasse
Hella S. Haasse (1918 - 2011) was born in Batavia, modern-day Jakarta. She moved to the Netherlands after secondary school. In 1945 she debuted with a collection of poems, entitled 'Stroomversnelling' (Momentum). She made her name three years later with the novella given out to mark the Dutch Book Week, 'Oeroeg'. As with much of her work, this tale of the friendship between a Dutch and an Indonesian boy has gained the status of a classic in the Netherlands.