Anjet Daanje
Writing
Biography
Anjet Daanje (1965) works and lives in Groningen (the Netherlands). She wrote several novels and before that also several film scenarios. With her latest books she broke through to a large audience in the Netherlands. The novel The Song of Stork and Dromedary was crowned with both major literary prizes of the country. The newspapers NRC (Netherlands) and De Standaard (Belgium) proclaimed this novel the Best Book of the Century. This novel and its predecessor The Remembered Soldier are now and in the near future appearing in about twenty translations. Characteristic of Anjet Daanje's prose is a clear plot and an analytical view of reality, but the emphasis is on the development of the characters. Over the years, Anjet Daanje has found a tone all her own, which was once described by a reviewer as 'a clear, precise writing style, which is very earthy and lively, and which at the same time in no way avoids seriousness, emotion and elaboration.'
Known For
In the middle of nowhere lies the little Dutch village: Barslet. The only strange thing about the village seems to be the name, which means "bar slut" in Dutch. But there is also a different interpretation of the name. "Bars" means "unfriendly" in Dutch and "let" is medieval Dutch for "people". So Barslet means "unfriendly people". Barslet seems to be an ordinary and peaceful village. But if you believe that, you're mistaken.
The Secrets of Barslet
To show the many lovers of his mother how he feels about them, a young boy buries the gifts he gets from them in the woods. But then one of them gives him a dog, called Dajo.
Dajo
After a group of teenagers discover one of their friends lying dead on a river bank on one of the hottest days of summer, a story of jealousy, insecurity and peer pressure gradually unfolds. Group leader Caesar is able to magnify - out of all proportion - the small grievances that each of Jessie's friends bear towards her and transforms them into a general and pervasive hatred that leads ultimately to her horrible, senseless killing.
Dusk
A young boy and his young sister are playing on a rubbish dump, acting out their parents' divorce. For this they use their father's things which their mother brought to the dumping ground out of anger. The girl only wants to use their fathers things, but the boy finds something that he finds much more interesting.
Engel en Broer
One evening, a blind woman comes out of her car with a tear-stained face. In a flashback, we see the preceding events. She sits on a swing and falls for a man's voice who asks her for directions. But she does not want to touch his face. As a girl, she could fantasise about her face, until she touched it. Now, she fears the same with the man.
Unseen
Small events in the lives of three people eventually lead to the moment at which a boy throws a rock from a bridge to hit a car. Small, unimportant causes can have big consequences.
Raak
The story follows a shell-shocked veteran suffering from amnesia with no memory of who he was before the war, and Julienne Coppens, a woman who arrives claiming him as her husband, a photographer named Amand, lost to her for years.