Last week we wrapped up the first book of the Wonder City. Next week we’re going to start installments from our second book titled The Tovernboak. The title takes its name from two Dutch words, “tovern” meaning spirit and “boak” meaning book. Put together you get the name of the massive document the Velma and the Light Keepers have been compiling since the days of New Amsterdam known as the Spirit Book. It’s this document, that when complete, will tell the true history of New York and explain the importance of the charm lost around Lizzie’s neck.
Since this book divides its time between the North Atlantic during World War II and New Amsterdam in the 1650’s our cover has a representation of Manhattan’s first map the Castello Plan. The research for this book was one of the reasons why we have our popular tour Remnants of Dutch New Amsterdam, Tracing the Castello Plan.
Tour of The Remnants of Dutch New Amsterdam
And like Book 1 we thought we’d start with a short guide to the new characters introduced in this book:
CORNELIUS TULIP: Father to Owen and Lizzie, husband to Edwina, British ex-pat and now a Lieutenant in the United States Navy assigned to the USS Cauldwell. Cornelius is a man of duty who loves the sea and his new country.
JORIS RAPALJE: Although Joris is the head of one of the first families to settle in New Amsterdam, he isn’t Dutch, he’s a French Huguenots but those are just details. What’s important: Joris is one of the original four founding members of the Light Keepers and was entrusted to protect the Parelzaad, passed on to the Light Keepers by the Lenape Shaman, Kapsee.
SARAH RAPALJE: Daughter of Joris and the first European child born in the New Netherlands Colony, Sarah is the first of many authors of the Tovernboak. It is she who comes up with the idea of keeping a written record of the Light Keepers and their mission to unlock the mystery of Parelzaad, handed down to her from her father.
OLD KAPSEE: Older from the Kapsee we meet in Owen’s dream, Now he’s an aging Lenape shaman back during the days of New Amsterdam. Kapsee was the first to hear whispers on the wind that spoke of the great opposing forces of good and evil that came together to plant the seeds of Gotham. It is he who forges the Parelzaad and he who urges the new European stewards of his homeland to keep watch over it. Kapsee knows a day will come when they will need a light to ward off the dark days. Those days are nigh!
Join us next week as we start The Wonder City, Book 2: The Tovernboak!
Or skip through to the first installment.
