Netherlands

The Netherlands is the primary backdrop for the novel. This is the European nation where all of the main characters live. In the narrative present, Isabel resides in the countryside outside of Amsterdam, while Eva, Hendrik, and Hendrik live in the city. The novel is set in 1961, but the aftermath of World War II continues to impact the sociopolitical atmosphere of this primary setting. Throughout the novel, flashbacks to the war capture the ways in which the 1940 German invasion of the region impacted its people. In spite of the characters' fraught national past, however, they all continue to call the Netherlands home and remain attached to the house and land they knew as children.

Family House

The family house is the primary setting of the novel's events in the narrative present. When Isabel, Hendrik, and Louis are children, their uncle Karel buys the house for the children and...