Summary of Alanna Nash's The Colonel

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The town of Breda, Holland, is a picture postcard of European charm and character. The van Gend en Loos building, which houses an upscale menswear shop, was originally built as a strategic fortress in the fourteenth century.

#2 The van Kuijk family could be traced back to the Middle Ages, when they were a wealthy, aristocratic family that ruled the small town of Hoogstraten. When the region split in two, the southern part was assimilated into Belgium, while the van Kuijks fled to the town of Breda.

#3 The van Kuijks were a family of travelers. They sold and traded household goods from their barge to other travelers on the water. They couldn’t ignore their greater wanderlust, and they preferred the itinerant life.

#4 Dries was a Ponsie, and he had the Ponsie sense of humor, playfulness, and appreciation of fun. He was also known as the family sleepwalker, as he would wander the streets at night. He had a difficult time taking orders from anyone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822547445

IRB Media

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Insights on Alanna Nash's The Colonel

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The town of Breda, Holland, is a picture postcard of European charm and character. The van Gend en Loos building, which houses an upscale menswear shop, was originally built as a strategic fortress in the fourteenth century.

#2

The van Kuijk family could be traced back to the Middle Ages, when they were a wealthy, aristocratic family that ruled the small town of Hoogstraten. When the region split in two, the southern part was assimilated into Belgium, while the van Kuijks fled to the town of Breda.

#3

The van Kuijks were a family of travelers. They sold and traded household goods from their barge to other travelers on the water. They couldn’t ignore their greater wanderlust, and they preferred the itinerant life.

#4

Dries was a Ponsie, and he had the Ponsie sense of humor, playfulness, and appreciation of fun. He was also known as the family sleepwalker, as he would wander the streets at night. He had a difficult time taking orders from anyone.

#5

The van Kuijk family was poor, but not considered low-class. Maria took great pride in the fact that her daughters went to work as live-in maid servants and nannies when they were twelve years old, as a sign of good lineage.

#6

Dries’s mother, Maria, was a strict religious woman who did not allow him to play with Protestants or lower-class families. She instead sent him to a convent for Franciscan nuns. Dries was no exception and would often hustle a few guilders whenever he had the opportunity.

#7

Dries van Kuijk, as a child, had a fascination with the circus. He would often cut school to be at the head of the line to ride the merry-go-round, since the first round was free. He eventually became what Americans would call a carny.

#8

Dries was always up to something, and he seemed to relish it. He was unique among his family, and always seemed to be driven by something that the others weren’t.

#9

Dries’s clashes with his father became more frequent as he grew up. He began working for a small local circus on the Kloosterplein, run by a family named van Bever. The van Bevers couldn’t compete with the big European outfits, but Dries was guaranteed work there every season.

#10

Dries van Kuijk had many traits that were similar to his father, including his need to humiliate others around him. He also grew up feeling as if no one could be trusted.

#11

Dries’s first jobs were menial, at best. He sold and checked tickets on a trolley that ran between Breda and Oosterhout. But the bitter wind whipped through the trolley, and after a while, he decided he’d had enough.

#12

Dries was extremely dependent on his family, and he didn’t want to