Gerbrand Bakker

Gerbrand Bakker (b. 1962) is a novelist, diarist and columnist who broke through in 2006 with 'Boven is het stil' (The Twin), which won three prizes in his native Netherlands and another five abroad, most notably the Dublin Literary Award.

Fiction
Photo: Bart Koetsier

Boven is het stil has been translated into 24 languages. In 2013 Bakker also won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (precursor of the International Booker) for The Detour. He then concentrated on non-fiction, but has now released his first novel in more than a decade. He is also a gardener.

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Gerbrand Bakker

Pear Trees Blossom White

A family is turned upside down when their mother leaves. Then the youngest son, Gerson, loses his eyesight in an accident, and the balance is disturbed even more. The father feels guilty – he was driving the car and failed to give way.

Gerbrand Bakker

June

'Juni' (‘June’), the second novel by Gerbrand Bakker, begins astonishingly enough from the perspective of the former Dutch queen, Juliana, who on 17 June 1969 paid a working visit to the district of Wieringerwaard. Queen Juliana, known for occasionally breaking with protocol, abruptly turns her attention to a woman and child arriving late, by bicycle.

Gerbrand Bakker

The Detour

A Dutch woman, who is a university English lecturer, rents a farm in remote, rural Wales, where she is carrying out research into the work of Emily Dickinson. She intends to demonstrate that some of Dickinson’s poems were not of the same high standard as her other work. When she arrives, there are ten geese living on the farm, but they disappear, one by one. Perhaps it’s the work of a local fox.

Gerbrand Bakker

Servant, Alone

After achieving international fame as a novelist with 'The Twin' (International Dublin Literary Award 2010) and 'The Detour', Gerbrand Bakker made his autobiographical debut with Jasper and 'His Servant' in 2016. Now, the author returns with a mesmerising sequel, building on his fictional oeuvre to present an intimate life become novel. Recording and recollecting everything with a precise pen and wry humour, he searches for answers: Where does his depression spring from? And how can he overcome it?

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