The author met her goal for me by creating a good story in an era foreign to us all. I thought the way of life then was expressed quite well and a touch of the differences between protestant and catholic was well done, though minor in the story.When a crisis in her life happened you surely wondered which which one she would take, though it was not difficult to determine beforehand.This was superior to "Hyacinth In Blue," another book about Vermeer that didn't do it for me.