A few years ago, when the owner of the Blue Heron bistro was visiting his mother in the Netherlands, he happened to pick up a book called "Het Dagboek van (The Diary of) Betje Boerhave". After an all-night read - he couldn't put it down - he wanted the story made available to American readers. So he translated and published it as Betsy Boerhave's Diary.

The book contains all 200 line drawings from the original edition, drawn by one of Betsy's granddaughters.
The diary's discovery is connected with the renovation of a small building that was to become a grocery shop museum, in the center of the ancient Dutch city of Utrecht. While removing floor boards in 1974, a workman found a rusty tin can with some old papers. It was reported that the tin can contained diaries kept by Elizabeth (Betje, or Betsy) Boerhave, the grocery shop's owner, from 1874 to 1891. The Museum Board published the diaries, with much success.
The address of Betsy's shop is Hoogt 6. Literally, Hoogt means "height" or "high place", probably a reference to the fact that the old city had been built on sandy moraines from the ice age, so the ground was a little higher than the swampy Dutch lowlands to the west.

No doubt, many readers of the Diary will want to visit the grocery museum at Hoogt 6 and taste the flavor of Betsy's time. While in the area, they may also want to visit other diary locations such as the picturesque nearby village of Breukelen (the origin of Brooklyn, NY), where Betsy's "little cheese farmer" lived.

From Betsy's diary we learn that she was bright, lively, opinionated and good-looking (she broke a few hearts along the way); she eloped from her wealthy home at 18, she dearly loved her husband and her six children and worked very hard; she was practical, charitable, pious, and fun-loving. From a background that may seem indistinct at first emerge many real, interesting people. There is joy, tragedy, faith, love and fun. Many of the stories may surprise you; many of Betsy's comments on life ring as true today as they did then. And despite her low opinion of herself as a writer, the lyrical quality of her final entries shows that has developed into an accomplished writer.

Betsy Boerhave's diary can be ordered through your bookseller, or you can order it from iUniverse

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