Rights list - Spring 2011 by De Bezige Bij

De Bezige Bij Publishers • Thomas Rap Publishers • Cargo Publishers Van Miereveldstraat 1 • nl-1071 dw Amsterdam • Postbus 75184 • nl-1070 ad Amsterdam The Netherlands • tel +31 20 305 9810 • fax +31 (0)20 305 9824 Foreign Rights Contact: Hayo Deinum via h.deinum@debezigebij.nl

publishing house de bezige bij www.debezigebij.nl

translation rights london 2011 content fiction Kees van Beijnum Peter Buwalda Jessica Durlacher Jessica Durlacher Iris Koppe Rik Launspach Alma Mathijsen Margriet de Moor Marcel Möring Nazmiye Oral Yves Petry Anil Ramdas Maartje Wortel

A Kind of Family Bonita Avenue The Hero Arthuro d’Alberti The Man with the Claws Man Girl Dead In Everything, Carmen The Painter and the Girl Mountain of Chastening Zehra The Virgin Marino Badal Half-human

non-fiction Bart Chabot Jan Drost Tom Egbers Roel Janssen Auke Kok Berthe Meijer David van Reybrouck

Up on the Hilton Roof The Romantic Misconception Rory Storm Dirty Money Holleeder. The Early Years Life after Anne Frank Congo. A History

thrillers Milou van der Will Peter de Zwaan

Red Light Fireworks

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

kees van beijnum a kind of family

(Een soort familie)

* New novel by best selling author of Oysters at Nam Kee and Paradiso Over 35,000 copies sold • Shortlisted for the ako Literature Prize 2010 • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 480 pages In the 1980s, Teun Draaijer and his older brother suffer under the special position their family occupies among the town’s boorish inhabitants. They are regularly the butt of exclusion and harassment. Each in his own way, the boys do their best to survive at school and on the street. But then Teun’s brother turns his back on the ideals and expectations of his parents, and their family life is disrupted. Teun’s position becomes unbearable: should he take sides with his brother, or with his parents? Years later, Teun and his young son return to the town where he spent his youth. It turns out not to be a sentimental journey. The fateful night on which the family conflict finally came to a head has never stopped pursuing him.

kees van beijnum (b. 1954) is the author of suc cessful novels such as Poet on Zeedijk (1995), The Arrangement (1998) and Oysters at Nam Kee (2000), which also received the F. Bordewijk Prize. His former novel is the bestselling Paradiso.

‘A compelling novel with excellent scenes.’ – de volkskrant ‘Poignant and forceful.’ – vrij nederland ‘An intriguing novel.’ – gpd

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

peter buwalda bonita avenue * An impressive, hefty debut novel about the downfall of an ambitious family Over 15,000 copies sold • Sold to Rowohlt (Germany), Actes Sud (France), Mondadori (Italy) and Salamandra (Spain) • Shortlisted for the Libris Literature Prize 2011 • Longlisted for the Academica Debut Prize 2011 • Longlisted for the Dutch Gold Dagger Award 2011 • English sample translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 544 pages Joni Sigerius, stepdaughter of the rector of a University, and her boyfriend Aaron, run a little business that she prefers to keep secret from her dynamic and brilliant father. It is in the year that a fireworks catastrophe vanishes a complete residential quarter in the city and that explosion takes place within the family as well. Not only do Joni and Aaron find themselves in dire straits, but it is also in this same summer that Sigerius Sr.’s only real son is released from prison. Only eight years later – by which time Joni is running a million-dollar business in Los Angeles – does Aaron find out what was really going on in 2000.

peter buwalda (b. 1971) worked as a journalist and editor for the literary pop music magazine Wahwah. His stories have been published in Hollands Maandblad and De Gids.

‘Already in the first chapter Buwalda portrays the convincing character of a cad with a turn for mathematics and an obsession for judo… Buwalda has an easy going style, clear and precise, and completely unpretentious.’ – de groene amsterdammer ‘Outstanding read. Bold language and content. Bonita Avenue is a book which deserves a large audience.’ – hp / de tijd

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

jessica durlacher the hero

(De held)

* A modern-day novel about violence and revenge. Thrilling, filmic and full of momentum. Over 40,000 copies sold • Sold to Diogenes Verlag (Germany) • Winner of the Opzij Literature Prize 2010 • Longlisted for the Dutch Gold Dagger Award 2011 • English sample translation and synopsis available • Great reviews in the Dutch press and praised as Durlacher’s “best book so far” (de Volkskrant) • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 384 pages While out jogging, the driver of a car knocks protagonist Sara to the ground. This violence takes her back to the mysterious monologues which her father held in German right before his death. Monologues about his own mother, who was murdered during the war and about whom she knows almost nothing. The past is a venomous thing; when Sara’s son, who is attending college in America, announces his plans to join the Marines and go to Afghanistan, she tries to stop him cost what may. But then she is confronted, along with her husband and their daughter, with a follow-up to the violence. Revenge seems to be the only possible answer, and Sara decides to take the law into her own hands. Her grandmother’s secrets suddenly seem very timely indeed.

jessica durlacher (b. 1961) is the author of bestsellers such as: The Conscience, The Daughter and Emoticon. She has published three novellas during the last three years: Arthuro d’Alberti, Writers! and What Happened to Cathy M.?.

‘It’s actually a marvel and certainly a virtue of Durlacher’s writing that all the complicated storylines come together neatly at the end. The Hero is no ordinary, unambiguous novel. It’s a war book, a family saga and a thriller rolled into one.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘As they should in any thriller, all the pieces of the puzzle come together right at the end, but Durlacher lifts her novel to a higher plane by subtly asking what the maximum longevity of the good is – in today’s world too.’ – hp/de tijd

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

jessica durlacher arthuro d ’alberti * An attractive re-issue of the compelling search for a grandfather

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novella, 128 pages Music played a major role in Jessica Durlacher’s childhood. Her parental home rang with sym phonies, piano concertos and quartets. For a long time, however, the fact that Jessica’s grandfather Arthur – killed in Bergen-Belsen in 1945 – was an opera singer seemed unworthy to mention. Until one day she realizes that classical song is the only genre to which her family never listened. In the hundred-odd pages of Arthuro d’Alberti, the tragic story of Arthur Durlacher unfolds, a man who experienced his finest hour as a vocalist in the camp Westerbork. Only in the final pages does Jessica Durlacher reveal the horrible reason behind the taboo on song in her family.

jessica durlacher (b. 1961) is the best selling author of The Conscience, The Daughter, Emoticon and The Hero, which appeared in the autumn of 2010. She has published two other novellas during the last three years: Writers! and What Happened to Cathy M.?.

What the press had to say about The Daughter: ‘With great virtuosity, a complex story is told about victims and perpetrators, guilt, deceit and the longing for examples and heroes.’ – frankfurter allgemeine zeitung

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

iris koppe the man with the claws (De man met de schaar)

* A chronicle of our age, in the tradition of Van der Heijden’s Lawyer to the Punks World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 256 pages, April 2011 In The Man with the Claws, two young women become involved in a student movement surrounding a controversial politician nicknamed The Lobster. After a failed attempt to set up a brokerage in public-transport passes, the girls find themselves deeply in debt and vulnerable to extortion. They come in contact with a professor who has a score to settle with The Lobster. In their naïveté, they barely realize the kind of web in which they have become entangled. The Man with the Claws is a stunning portrait of the newest generation of students in politically turbulent times, but above all a moving story about a young woman in search of herself.

iris koppe (b. 1985) writes short stories, columns and articles for various Dutch daily newspapers and weeklies, and has produced radio programs and short literary films. In 2005 and 2006 she wrote a serial for the NRC Handelsblad daily paper about Rosiri, the daughter of baby boomers. The serialized story was published in book form by De Bezige Bij and the film rights have been sold. What the press had to say about Rosiri: ‘This debut is a very promising one.’ – de volkskrant ‘Koppe can write, she possesses humor and a unique view of the world.’ – hp/de tijd ‘Koppe is at her best when she stays far away from the poetic and focuses on trivial matters, a feature that makes her characters extremely human.’ – de groene amsterdammer

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

rik launspach man girl dead

(Man meisje dood)

* Once again, best-selling author Launspach has written a book too exciting to put down. First print run 50,000 copies • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 400 pages, September 2011 At the start of the final decade of the last century, sometime drug dealer Amadeus Dynkhirst – while a university student of linguistics – becomes convinced that Dutch is a useless language. It is chock full of superfluities and misunderstandings, and therefore a perfect reflection of human nature. Amadeus goes in search of a more direct form of communication, and becomes enchanted by Tatja, a fellow student from Afghanistan who fled at the age of eight from the civil war raging in that country. Seventeen years later, as the inventor of a revolutionary computer-translation program, he is recruited by the nato. Against his will, he becomes involved in a number of shady operations in Afghanistan and stumbles upon evidence of an age-old struggle between East and West – starting with the siege of Troy and which is still unsettled. Man Girl Dead is a whirlwind novel about a woman, a senseless war and an ingenious computer program.

rik launspach (b. 1958) is a writer, actor and dramaturge. In 1993 he won the Golden Calf Award for his role in the film Oeroeg. His novelistic debut, 1953, about the disastrous flooding in the southern Netherlands more than half a century ago, appeared in 2009. More than 100,000 copies of that book have been sold and it has been made into a successful movie by Ben Sombogaart. On 1953: ‘Launspach has done his research well and portrays the natural violence, the urge and the struggle to survive, evocatively and compellingly.’ – trouw ‘Launspach has found the right tone for such a major theme. Dramatic episodes are interspersed with understated, often humorous passages… The heartrending and exciting quest forms the novel’s climax… described so glowingly and compellingly that you believe it in an instant.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘An exciting and moving book. To read is to enjoy and to shiver.’ – het parool

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

alma mathijsen in everything, carmen (Alles is Carmen)

* Sparkling novelistic debut by a playful narrative talent

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 240 pages, September 2011 Like her mother and aunts, Carmen loves life. When she meets Kees, the heavens open, “I’m floating in a swimming pool full of strawberries that taste more and more like apple pie with every bite.” When Kees’s love dies, he takes with him all things good, and the final rainbows, the dip dabs and moonstars fall from her mouth. “Sometimes I’m afraid to remember. Recent studies show that brain cells in which certain moments are stored soften when you think back on them. Soft. When something softens, it can become distorted. That’s how it works with science. That’s why I don’t want to look over my shoulder too often. Everything needs to stay the way it is.” After a few confusing days, however, she makes a decision. She’s not exactly sure why, not quite yet, but she has decided that Kees must be punished. That is the only thing that will calm her down. Alma Mathijsen follows Carmen as she carries out her plan, and thanks to her flowing style and rich imagination she keeps the reader riveted to her moving story all the way to the end.

alma mathijsen (b. 1984) is a writer and visual artist. At the age of eighteen she began writing for the young people’s website “Spunk.nl”. She formed part of the columnists’ duo Fanny & Alma in the Dutch daily Het Parool. She has written two plays and a collection of short stories. She studied creative writing for a semester at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 2011 she graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy with a degree in Image & Language.

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

margriet de moor the painter and the girl (De schilder en het meisje)

* On an unfortunate girl and a man unable to express his true feelings; the brilliant painter Rembrandt Over 30,000 copies sold • Sold to Hanser Verlag (Germany), Maren Sell (France), Neri Pozza (Italy), Pistorius (Czech Republic), Folio (Ukraine), Turbine Forlaget (Denmark) and Beletrina (Slovenia) • Nominated for the Opzij Literature Prize 2010 • Longlisted for the Libris Literature Prize 2011 • Full German translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 254 pages It is May 3, 1664, the day that an eighteen-year old girl from Denmark is publicly garrotted on the Dam in Amsterdam. Half the city has turned out to see the execution. The painter of the novel’s title has no desire to attend. His thoughts are occupied by his recently deceased wife and an important canvas which he has set up and for which he has bought the materials that same morning: red and golden pigments. Later that day he hears from his son the grisly details of the girl’s last moments, and he rows to the place where she has been hung.

margriet de moor (b. 1941) is one the most important Dutch female authors. First Grey, then White, then Blue won the ako Literature Prize in 1992. Her work has been translated into 24 languages. The Painter and the Girl is her first novel with De Bezige Bij. ‘She writes lyrical prose, and her stories about life are quiet and full of beauty.’ – Marcel Reich-Ranicki ‘Margriet de Moor sketches the philosophical ferment lightly but effectively, giving just the right amount of political and historical detail.’ – new york times ‘Here a storyteller succeeds in bringing across the unsayable in a mild and melancholy fashion.’ – die zeit On The Painter and the Girl: ‘An extremely rich novel on death, imagination and eternity.’ – nrc handelsblad

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

.. marcel moring mountain of chastening (Louteringsberg)

* Grand novel by a natural-born storyteller First print run 10,000 copies • His previous novel Dis has been sold to Harper Collins (us) and Luchterhand (Germany) • Translation rights: A.P. Watt • Novel, 416 pages, April 2011 It is the hottest summer in a century, and Marcus Kolpa spends a few wakeful nights thinking back on his own life and those of the people around him. He is approaching sixty; along with his daughter, he has retreated to a huge mansion in the woods. There Kolpa unravels the secret life of his mother, and muses over the left-wing violence of the 1970s and the conspiracy in which he once unwittingly played a part. He frets over the only novel he ever wrote, the book that not only made him wealthy, but cost him his reputation as well. Mountain of Chastening is part two of the trilogy that began with Dis. It is the work of a writer consistently building an oeuvre, but – although everything in Möring’s books is connected to everything else – this novel with its allusions to literature, philosophy and history can stand alone.

.. marcel moring's (b. 1958) novels include Mendel (published in 1991 and awarded the Geertjan Lubberhuizen Prize), The Great Longing which was published in 1992 and received the ako Literature Prize, In Babylon (published in 1997 and awarded the Belgian Golden Owl Award) and Dis (published in 2006, awarded the F. Bordewijk Prize and long-listed for the Libris Literature Prize and the ako Literature Prize). He has also published essays, short stories and novellas, one of which – The Dream Room – was nominated for the Impac Dublin Literary Award. His work has been translated into fifteen languages. What the press had to say about Dis: ‘Masterful control of the language. Brilliant, overwhelming, daring, cheeky.’ – de groene amsterdammer ‘Magnificent.’ – the times

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

nazmiye oral zehra * An intense debut about the inner strength of a damaged child World rights: De Bezige Bij â&#x20AC;˘ Novel, 240 pages, May 2011 The time of the big summer fires has arrived, and in a little Turkish coastal village the community is startled by the arrival of young stranger â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a child who calls herself Zehra. No one knows where she comes from, and the villagers keep a fearful eye on the girl. After a few days of begging, Zehra takes refuge with Havva, the woman who performs the funeral ablutions in the village. Havva is generally respected as a wise woman with supernatural powers. Before long, Havva discovers that Zehra carries a secret with her, and is tormented by terrible nightmares from her past.

nazmiye oral (b. 1969) is an actress who has played for main theatre groups in The Netherlands. She has also appeared in TV series and in films. Oral wrote one of the Veiled Monologues, in which she also performed. She writes a regular column for the de Volkskrant daily newspaper.

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl ÂŠ text De Bezige Bij

yves petry the virgin marino

(De maagd Marino)

* We are so heavily endowed with brains that nonsense becomes inevitable Shortlisted for the Libris Literature Prize 2011 • English sample translation available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 304 pages A man anaesthetizes another man, amputates his penis, slashes his throat and keeps the body in the freezer, using it to abate his hunger in the weeks to come. And then to think that the victim had given his permission for all this beforehand. When Yves Petry heard about this real-life story, he decided to write a book about it. Not so much to reconstruct the facts, but to find out why this news report shocked him so deeply. The result of his research is found in The Virgin Marino. In his inimitable style, Petry lets us penetrate into the mind of the killer through the posthumous vision of the victim, and we discover things we have never read or heard anywhere else.

yves petry (b. 1967) studied mathematics and philosophy and is the author of four well-received novels. His previous work, The Lagger, won the bng New Literature Prize and the Flemish Brabant Prize.

‘One of the most striking voices in the new generation of Flemish writers.’ – de morgen About The virgin Marino: ‘The virgin Marino is an extraordinary novel, both intelligent and bewildering.’ – knack

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

anil ramdas badal * Grand novelistic debut in the tradition of Salman Rushdie and V.S. Naipaul World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 416 pages Badal’s marriage is over and his career is on the rocks. He looks back on a life as essayist and journalist in a multicultural society, and on his difficult relationship with foreigners on the one hand, and white intellectuals on the other. His honesty, which sometimes assumes hysterical proportions, often alienates others. Badal becomes isolated and takes to the bottle. Meanwhile, society has changed and the issues he once wrote about seem obsolete. The discussions he prompted have been silenced. Badal is a fantastic story about a man who gradually loses his sense of social engagement and is forced to invent himself anew.

anil ramdas (b. 1958) is a journalist and has written short stories and a novella. He has spent a great deal of time in India and Paramaribo. Concerning those stays he wrote When Love is Gone, Life Goes On, Letters from India and Paramaribo. The happiest town in the jungle. Badal is his novelistic debut.

On Badal: ‘His prose is stylish and smooth, his choice of words is rich and to the point, often witty with beautiful anecdotes.’ – het parool What the press has to say about Ramdas’ essays: ‘A keen-witted writer. Devilishly well-formulated, stimulating and intelligent.’ – trouw ‘Takes a shot at the impossible. A true balancing act.’ – vrij nederland ‘Utterly fascinating.’ – hp/de tijd

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

maartje wortel half-human

(Half mens)

* Novelistic debut by the winner of the 2010 Anton Wachter Prize World rights: De Bezige Bij • Novel, 192 pages, September 2011 A Mexican living in Los Angeles becomes involved in a serious traffic accident. The victim, an 18-year-old girl, has to have her leg amputated. This serves as starting point for a series of events both dramatic and hilarious, as the Mexican and the girl are driven into each other’s arms by the forces of fate. But what seems at first to be the start of a beautiful romance, leads to a startling and sinister conclusion. Half-human is the story of two young people forced to survive in a cold-hearted metropolis. With a striking mixture of distance and empathy, Maartje Wortel describes these wandering souls, at the mercy of their own and each other’s obsessions.

maartje wortel (b. 1982) studied Image & Language at Amsterdam’s Rietveld Academy. In 2007 she won the Write Now! story contest, and her collection of short stories This is Your House received the Anton Wachter Prize for best literary debut.

What the papers had to say about This is Your House: ‘Mildly absurd, comic and sometimes caustic and un ashamedly cruel: Wortel’s style of storytelling is reminiscent of Arnon Grunberg.’ – de volkskrant ‘Wortel has a distinctively personal voice, in which sobriety and melancholy jockey for position. A fascinating collection.’ – gooi- en eemlander ‘A tone all her own, a voice unlike anything else in contemporary prose.’ – Maarten ’t Hart

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

bart chabot up on the hilton roof * A fond, admiring and frank portrait of Holland’s only real rock ’n’ roll hero Includes an exclusive interview with Bono on Herman Brood • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Biography, 660 pages Everyone knows who Herman Brood was, but few people really knew him. One of those chosen few was Bart Chabot. He spent years close to his friend – at his home, on the street, on the road, in the theater – and wrote four books about him, which together form compelling documentation of the adventures of Holland’s only real rock ’n’ roll hero. The high points from those books have now been collected in one hefty volume. This lively monument to a phenomenon deals with all facets of Herman Brood: the musician, the painter, the poet, the performer, but also the son, the husband, the father and the unruly child who refused to grow up.

bart chabot (b. 1954) is a poet, writer and biographer. He received the Johnny van Doorn Prize in 2007. Last year, along with Jan Mulder and Remco Campert, he toured the theaters of Holland with the production Tot Zoens.

‘The hilarious anecdotes and conversations result in a book that is unique in international rock literature.’ – de volkskrant

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

jan drost the romantic misconception. a different perspective on love (Het romantisch misverstand. Anders denken over liefde) * About romantic ideals, sex, jealousy and faithfulness

World rights: De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction, 320 pages The Romantic Misconception is no book for the cynical. Based on philosophers and writers such as Plato, Schopenhauer, Stendhal, Nietzsche, Saul Bellow and Amos Oz, Jan Drost shows how various ideas about love and romance drift into our minds and make an impact there, for better or for worse. Romantic ideals, power, jealousy, sex, adultery, faithfulness – all are dealt with here. Our rational mind can be applied in the service of our capacity to love, for example by unmasking romantic ideals that obstruct loving or make it impossible altogether. Too much love is wasted on romanticism and misconceptions. Drost is convinced that our way of thinking influences our emotions and actions – and that thinking differently can lead to acting differently. We are freer than we might suppose. And we can be so much better, so much lovelier, also when it comes to love. Particularly when it comes to love.

jan drost (b. 1975) is a writer and philosopher. He lives and works in Amsterdam. Drost teaches at Amsterdam College, where he specializes in cultural philosophy, and the philosophy of love in particular. Jan Drost regularly writes columns for nrc.next and De Groene Amsterdammer.

Translation rights De Bezige Bij London 2011, contact h.deinum@debezigebij.nl © text De Bezige Bij

tom egbers rory storm. king of liverpool, dethroned by the beatles * The fateful story of a man destined to become famous Published fourty years after Rory Storm’s death • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Biography, 224 pages • August 2012

Rory Storm becomes frontman of a rock ’n’ roll band, Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. The Beatles, who play together with The Hurricanes in Hamburg alternating sets, are friends of Rory’s and they admire him. They are regular visitors at Rory’s home on Broad Green Road. Iris Caldwell, Rory’s sister, is Paul McCartney’s girl-friend. In 1962, John Lennon and Paul McCartney ask Ringo Starr, who is Rory’s drummer, to join The Beatles. Ringo agrees, and that’s the the end for Rory and his Hurricanes. Rory flees from Liverpool where he is constantly reminded of what might have been, but never was. He spends some time in Benidorm as a waterski-instructor, before he drives his white Chevrolet Impala up to Amsterdam to start a new life as a deejay. While in Holland he receives a telegram, the contents of which are dramatic. He returns to Liverpool. This will eventually lead to his mysterious death, a few months later.

Rory Storm. King of Liverpool, Dethroned by The Beatles describes the rise of a local legend who had everything to become a big star. However, he remains practically unknown outside Liverpool. By the people of Merseyside he is never forgotten.

tom egbers is a journalist and writer from Amsterdam. He has been a presenter for Dutch television over the past twenty years. His book The Black Meteor (De Zwarte Meteoor), about the first black football player in Holland, was succesfully adapted for the screen.

roel janssen dirty money * Financial scandals and speculation in Dutch history World rights: De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction, 240 pages In the early 17th century, the Dutch Republic was the cradle of modern financial capitalism. It established the first stock company – the Dutch East Indies Company – the first stock exchange and the first clearing bank, the Amsterdam Wisselbank. Less known is that the Netherlands also was a pioneer in financial scandals and speculation. The Dutch ‘tulip mania’ of 1637 is well known as the first financial bubble in history. Also, the first manipulation of the money market took place in Antwerp in the 16th century. In the 17th century, the first short seller was a Dutch merchant who was dismayed with the results of the East Indies Company and the first stock market crash in history took place in Holland as well. In 1763, the first European banking crisis originated in Amsterdam. Dirty Money describes these and other financial upheavals that have taken place in the Netherlands from the early 14th century till 2009. In the introduction, the book links historic scandals and bubbles to the current financial crisis.

roel janssen (b. 1947) is a former financial journalist for NRC Handelsblad. He also writes thrillers, of which The Tenth Wife won the Dutch Golden Dagger in 2007.

‘A stunning collection of roguery in the world of big money, written in such a catchy way that you want to keep on reading.’ – Willem Vermeend (former Minister of Social Affairs and Employment) ‘A motley crew of speculators, frauds and other resourceful people in finances, passes by in highly entertaining anecdotes…’ – gpd

auke kok holleeder. the early years

(Holleeder. De jonge jaren)

* The new bestseller by Auke Kok about the early years of Willem Holleeder, Holland’s most notorious criminal.

Film rights sold • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Biography, 272 pages How did “Wimpie”, from Amsterdam’s working-class Jordaan district, become Holland’s most notorious criminal? Why did he kidnap Freddy Heineken? Auke Kok has written a masterful account that takes you back to Holleeder’s youth and the story of his father, who worked for … Heineken.

auke kok (b. 1956) is historian, writer, journalist and columnist for Het Parool and Vrij Nederland. He previously published The Betrayer – Life and Death of Anton van der Waals, War Love and Ballamorous.

‘A colourful portrait of the life of the young Holleeder and the part of Amsterdam he grew up in.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘Well written and richly documented.’ – het parool

berthe meijer life after anne frank (Leven na Anne Frank)

* A compelling portrait of an uncompromising life Over 10,000 copies sold • Full English translation available • Sold to Apple Books (Korea) and Epocha (Czech Republic) • World rights; De Bezige Bij • Autobiography, 270 pages A great deal has been written about the Second World War, but not about what such a war does with the life of a person who, like Berthe Meijer, survived concentration camp Bergen-Belsen as a child. Sixty-five years after the liberation, she looks back on a turbulent life that often coincided with major historical events. Particularly moving are her memories of the Frank family: Anne, Margot and their parents. Anne, who even in the concentration camp told stories to the younger children to keep their spirits up. Each chapter deals with traumatic experiences, described in a strikingly light-footed tone in which irony and even cheerfulness preclude all traces of the maudlin. A youth in an orphanage, the search for personal identity, marriage, motherhood and the search for missing pieces of the past characterize the life of a personality that has retained its power in spite of everything. Meijer portrays her dynamic life with a light, clear pen, making her memoirs read like a novel.

berthe meijer wrote culinary columns for the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, made TV documentaries, radio programs and wrote monthly culinary articles for a host of publications. She is married to the well-known concert pianist and author Gary Goldschneider. The couple divide their time between The Netherlands and France.

‘Touching memoires by Berthe Meijer, who survived Bergen-Belsen.’ – trouw ‘Moving memoirs.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘She describes it all with a certain distance and reflectiveness that reveals wisdom. This makes the emotion all the more intense for the reader; highly recommended.’ – niw

david van reybrouck congo. a history

(Congo. Een geschiedenis) * The fate of one of the world’s most devastated countries. Over 175,000 copies sold • Sold to Ecco/Harper Collins (us), 4th Estate (uk), Font Forlag (Norway), Suhrkamp (Germany), Natur och Kultur (Sweden) and Actes Sud (France) • Winner of the ako Literature Prize, the Libris History Prize and the Jan Greshoff Prize • English proposal and sample chapter available • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Non-fiction, 550 pages David Van Reybrouck begins his gripping account of hope and madness in the 1870s and chronicles the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial era up to 2010, the fiftieth anniversary of Congo’s independence. His vivid narrative zooms in on the impact of the slave trade and the latenineteenth century rubber boom, presents lively portraits of Belgian colonization, the struggle for independence, Lumumba’s tragic life and Mobutu’s dictatorship, and details the causes of the war that has raged between 1996 and the present, the deadliest conflict since the Second World War. Congo. A History is based on little-known archival sources and extensive travelling in Central-Africa. The hundreds of interviews which Van Reybrouck conducted both in the slums of Kinshasa and in the villages of the interior, as

well as in the African diaspora of Europe and China, lend a unique dimension to a rich and convoluted history. david van reybrouck (b. 1971) is a journalist, a literary non-fiction writer, a novelist, a poet and a playwright. Many of his books were nominated and have won literary prizes. His work has been translated into French (Actes Sud), Afrikaans (Protea) and Hungarian (Gondolat). He lives in Brussels. ‘Sublime… monumental… virtuoso. This literary nonfiction is more thrilling than a novel can be.’ – nrc handelsblad ‘Accurate, renewing, well balanced. This book gives a lot of room to the Congolese experience of the past… It makes it an excellent read.’ – de standaard ‘It’s raining Congo books. But this one outclasses all competition in a spectacular way: it’s more important, more intelligent, written better, yes, even thicker than all others… An incredible tour de force.’ – humo

milou van der will red light

(Rood licht)

* Convincing debut about the power of love and at the same time about its destructive aspects. 10,000 copies sold • World rights: De Bezige Bij • Thriller, 352 pages Roos and her daughter Evie have a knack in common: they’re both attracted to the wrong men. But where Roos always got away with only a bit of unpleasantness, her daughter walks into the trap. Evie falls victim to a gang of “lover boy” pimps, and ends up working as a prostitute. Roos and Boris, Evie’s father, both try in their own ways to save their daughter. But driven by mistrust and the fear of betrayal, they merely get in each other’s – and the police’s – way. When their youngest daughter, Tessa, becomes dangerously involved in the situation as well, they have to work together to save their family. Meanwhile Evie descends deeper and deeper into a spiral of violence, abuse and murder. She fears for her own life. And for that of her loved ones.

milou van der will (b. 1986) studied communications and is a reporter for the daily newspaper Metro. She is specialized in issues related to lover boy pimps. While researching Red Light, she spoke with victims, social workers and culprits.

‘A book which is exciting and at the same time shows how difficult it is to eliminate forced prostitution.’ – gpd

peter de zwaan fireworks. the disappearance of harmen saliger (De vuurwerkramp van Harmen Saliger) * When the S.E. Fireworks factory in Enschede exploded on Saturday, May 13, 2000, Harmen Saliger knew right away: this is the greatest day of my life.

World rights; De Bezige Bij • Novel, 288 pages, April 2011 On the day of the fireworks disaster in Enschede, businessman Harmen Saliger decides to pack his bags and disappear. His wife was in the hardest-hit neighbourhood at the time of the explosion and has almost certainly been killed. There is nothing to keep Saliger from staging his own death and starting a new life elsewhere. The Group of Enschede Entrepreneurs, however, doesn’t believe that Saliger was killed in the blast. After all, he owed them money – lots of money. But no one knows where he is. Not his wife Alide, who barely survived the explosion, or his sister Vivian, who takes care of Alide. But when a life insurance policy pops up, with Harmen’s unknown son as beneficiary, a lot of people have a good reason to try and find him. The chase is on…

peter de zwaan (b. 1944) has written dozens of thrillers. In 2000, his The Office of Alibis won the Dutch Golden Noose Award and he has been nominated often for prestigious thriller prizes. With Fireworks, De Zwaan returns to his roots in Enschede. It was there that he was working as a reporter for the daily newspaper Tubantia Dagblad the day the town exploded.