Elizabeth Termeer

Elizabeth Termeer (b. 1952) made her debut in 1991 with the novel Het goede voorbeeld (‘The Right Example’), followed by the collection of stories Zoveel manieren van minnen (1992). Her books usually deal with more or less unsympathetic characters from everyday life. Het afscheidsfeest (‘The Farewell Party’, 1994) tells the story of the inhabitants of an apartment building. Elisabeth Termeer is a teacher at the Language School in Gouda, in the west of the Netherlands. She is a regular contributor to the newspaper NRC Handelsblad.

Dance of the Daughters

(Contact, 1999, 288 pages)

Elizabeth Termeer is a clever storyteller. Her most recent book, De dans van de dochters describes the lives of four generations of women, and not for one moment does the reader lose the thread of the story. She skillfully introduces us to the world of the Roozen family, whose history is not without its dramas. Each sentence flows imperceptively into the next, and every paragraph arouses the curiosity of the reader for what is to come. Dialogue alternates with description; flashbacks and flashforwards occur alongside, giving the book its rapid tempo.