Thanks all. The National Bookweek is indeed a civilized and highly popular event......it seems that half the reading population of the Netherlands is on the train that particular day. I went to see the exhibition of the late works of our famous painter Rembrandt van Rijn in the newly restored Rijksmuseum . It was very crowded but I managed to see all I wanted.
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/late-rembrandt
Back to the book: it seems to me that Colm Toibin has crept into the skin of Henry James. The style of writing is not at all contemporary but feels like that of another century. Beautifully written.