Anna Louisa Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint


Anna Louisa Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint was a Dutch novelist.

Life and career

Geertruida Toussaint was born in Alkmaar, Netherlands, on 16 September 1812. Her father, a pharmacist of Huguenot descent, gave her a fair education, and at an early period of her career she developed a taste for historical research, fostered by a forced indoor life as a result of weak health.
Her first romance, Almagro, appeared in 1837, followed by De graaf van Devonshire in 1838; De Engelschen te Rome in 1840, and Het Huis Lauernesse in 1841, an episode of the Reformation that was translated into many European languages. These stories, mainly founded upon some of the most interesting epochs of Dutch history, betrayed a remarkable grasp of facts and situations, combined with an undoubted mastery over her mother tongue, although her style is sometimes involved and not always faultless.
Toussaint spent 1840 to 1850 carrying out further studies, resulting in an 1851-1854 series of three novels dealing with the first Earl of Leicester's adventures in the Low Countries: Leycester in Nederland, Vrouwen van het Leycestersche Tydperk, and Gideon Florensz. In 1851 she married the Dutch painter, Johannes Bosboom, after which she was known as Mrs Bosboom-Toussaint.
After 1870 Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint abandoned historical romance for the modern society novel, but her Delftsche Wonderdokter and Majoor Frans did not achieve the success of her earlier works. Majoor Frans was translated into English. Her novels were published in a collected edition. She died in The Hague on 14 April 1886.

Works

Almagro De Graaf van Devonshire: romantische épisode uit de jeugd van Elisabeth Tudor Engelschen te Rome: romantische épisode uit de regering van paus Sixtus V Het huis Lauernesse Lord Edward Glenhouse De prinses Orsini Eene kroon voor Karel den Stouten De graaf van Leycester in Nederland Mejonkvrouwe De Mauléon Don Abbondio II Het huis Honselaarsdijk in 1638 De vrouwen van het Leycestersche tijdvak Media-Noche: een tafereel uit den Nijmeegschen vredehandel, 1678 Gideon Florensz: romantisch-historische épisode uit het laatste tijdperk van Leycesters bestuur in Nederland Graaf Pepoli: de roman van een rijke edelman De triomf van Pisani De verrassing van Hoey in 1595 De Delftsche wonderdokter Majoor Frans Raymond de schrijnwerker Volledige romantische werken
Until 1851, when Toussaint married Johannes Bosboom, her works were published under her maiden name. Later works and reprints of her earlier works carried her married name.