Delftsche Wonderdokter

1595. Delft, caught in the grinding tedium of the Eighty Years' War, where the only certainty is poverty and the only promise is more of the same. Julian, once a gentleman of means, now leads a ragged band of mercenaries through the mud of a exhausted nation, wondering if he'll ever be more than a hired sword. Then comes the offer: a mysterious patron promises fortune for a single task. The catch? No one will tell him why. Meanwhile, in Delft's shadowed streets, Mabelia Graswinckel waits for a marriage she never chose, caught between her duty to a cousin she does not love and the strange, reclusive uncle known only as the Wonder Doctor, a man who heals the poor in secret and speaks to no one. When Julian's mission brings him to Delft, these threads begin to tangle toward something neither expected. Bosboom-Toussaint weaves a tale where war is not only fought with muskets but with secrets, honor, and the quiet violence of lives trapped by circumstance. A historical adventure where nothing is as it seems, and everyone has something to hide.