(G.A. van Oorschot, 2004, 159 pages)

The story of Rob’s life is told in spare prose. Not for him a predictable existence in bourgeois Holland; he heads out into the world, in search of action and adventure. But he walks into the trap of historical events that he cannot hope to influence.

(G.A. van Oorschot, 2012, 216 pages)

Bern, June 1941. Dutch diplomat Oscar Verschuur finds himself in neutral Switzerland. His family is spread across Europe, his wife Kate in London and their daughter Emma living in Berlin with her husband Carl, a ‘good’ German who works at the ministry of foreign affairs. The novel alternates between these three perspectives. Verschuur is the consummate diplomat, a ‘professional obfuscator’: ‘At keeping secrets he was unbeatable; it had become second nature to him.’ By chance he hears about the imminent German invasion of Russia. What should he do? Warn the world, or put his daughter’s safety first? The ticking clock makes the book a page-turner, its heart-stopping developments…