Fiction

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1
The Discomfort of Evening
The Discomfort of Evening
Lucas Rijneveld
Ten-year-old Jas lives with her deeply religious family on a dairy farm in the rural Netherlands. Her world is shaped by strict religious beliefs, the rhythms of farm life and the unspoken rules governing her family. When her older brother Matthies dies in an accident, Jas struggles to understand the loss and begins to believe that her childhood prayer may somehow have caused his death. As grief settles over the household, her parents withdraw into their own suffering, leaving Jas and her siblings increasingly isolated. Unable to express her fear and confusion directly, Jas retreats into a disturbing inner world filled with strange fantasies, bodily anxieties and dark imaginings. Through the child’s unsettling perspective, Rijneveld portrays a family gradually disintegrating under the weight of unprocessed grief and religious guilt. The novel’s vivid, often shocking imagery captures the vulnerability of childhood and the desperate search for meaning when familiar structures of belief and family life begin to collapse. Winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize, the novel is a haunting exploration of loss, repression and the limits of understanding.
Netherlands 2020
2
The Safekeep
The Safekeep
Yael van der Wouden
Safekeep is set in the Netherlands in 1961 and follows Isabel, a solitary woman living in the family home inherited after the death of her mother. Her carefully ordered existence is disrupted when her brother Louis arrives with his new girlfriend, Eva, who is invited to stay in the house. Isabel finds Eva intrusive and becomes increasingly suspicious of her behaviour, interpreting small disturbances as signs that something is wrong. Yet her growing fixation on Eva gradually reveals deeper tensions involving desire, family history, and the secrets embedded in the house itself. As their relationship changes, Isabel must confront assumptions she has long used to protect herself from emotional uncertainty. Van der Wouden combines psychological suspense with an exploration of postwar Dutch society, examining belonging, repression, and the ways personal histories can conceal larger historical injustices. The novel asks what it means to claim a home and what may be hidden behind the things people believe they own.
Netherlands 2024
3
The Remembered Soldier
The Remembered Soldier
Anjet Daanje
In The Remembered Soldier, a young woman named Noon Merckem encounters a man suffering from amnesia who may be her husband, a soldier who disappeared during the First World War. Although he remembers nothing of his former life, Noon attempts to help him recover his identity and rebuild their relationship. As the story unfolds, conflicting memories and unanswered questions emerge, revealing the uncertainty surrounding his past and the devastating consequences of war. Anjet Daanje explores the fragile relationship between memory, identity, and truth, examining how love can endure when the past becomes inaccessible. Set against the aftermath of the First World War, this haunting novel reflects on trauma, loss, and the stories people construct to make sense of their lives.
Netherlands 2025