Guido van Heulendonk (b. 1951) is the pseudonym of English teacher Guido Beelaert. His first novel Hoogtevrees (‘Fear of Heights’,1985) was filmed by Belgian National Television (brt) and his novel Paarden zijn ook varkens (‘Horses are also Pigs’,1996) was awarded the Gouden Uil for fiction.
A journalist retires to the village of his childhood to get away from the excesses and stress of city life. Thirty years previously he had been left by two girlfriends in quick succession. Now one of these ex-girlfriends is mayor of the village; she does not recognize him. He moves in with the other, whose long marriage has just broken up. Gradually, subtly, disillusionment and dissatisfaction gnaw at his apparently simple life. The merest suspicion of infidelity triggers his suppressed need for revenge and he plans gruesome action.
