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Göteborg 2027

Jutta Chorus

A female line is repeatedly concealed behind different surnames and is therefore less visible, realizes Jutta Chorus when she stumbles upon these astonishing women who were all related. An elderly family friend, Lili Veenman, shares a suitcase filled with letters, diaries and photographs, when Chorus shows interest in her forebears. ‘I know nothing of the lives of these women,’ Chorus writes, ‘because they never became famous. Leafing through the documents, I don’t think: how did their lives unfold, but how will their lives unfold? They lived in the shadow of history.’ The matriarch of this story is German-born Alma Bimmerman (1853-1948), an independent woman, educated in the Netherlands. A teacher, she left for Batavia to marry her fiancé, who died just before she arrived. She pioneered as a woman alone and later married a forester who considered women to be equals. In addition to raising her four children, she wrote several novels. The first child born in this egalitarian marriage was Elly Berkhout (1882-1943) whose life began promisingly: she was the first woman to graduate from the Agricultural School in Wageningen. But she abandoned her job as an agricultural researcher to marry a philandering man in the East Indies. The third generation of women in the book are granddaughters Sylvia (1907-1994) and Elly Brandts Buys (1913-1985). The oldest, the unruly Sylvia, became editor-in-chief of the weekly Haagse Post and developed a new journalistic style. Her relationships with men were troubled. Sylvia’s younger sister Elly had a very different life. She travelled all over Europe, settled in Rome, was well-liked as a fashion model and photographer. Although she married, she remained childless. Finally, Chorus tells the story of Lili Veenman (b. 1930), Sylvia’s only daughter, who trained in Paris and was the first female film director in Rome. In 1960, she married film director Fons Rademakers, and remained in his shadow, working on his sets as an assistant.Alma’s Daughters is a rich book, written in an engaging style, that provides food for thought on gender inequality and the course of history.

Five women, five lives in shadows. A haunting, breathtaking ramble through the generations, This is another way of writing history

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Non-Fiction

The untold ‘herstories’ of a family of talented women

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Assets

Almas dochters. Vijf levens in de schaduw

In this innovative multi-biography, Jutta Chorus follows a fascinating female family line over the course of the past century and a half. The book begins in the nineteenth century with matriarch Alma and then follows the lives of Alma’s daughter Elly, her granddaughters Sylvia and Elly, and her great-granddaughter Lili. A writer, an agricultural scientist, a journalist, a photographer and a filmmaker. Had they been men, the biographer argues, they would have displayed their talents with more bravado and most likely gone down in history.

Alma's Daughters - Five Lives in the Shadowsd

Ellen Neslo

Paulina (1768-1861) was born into slavery on a sugar plantation along the Suriname River.  These are turbulent times during which enslaved Africans flee to the safety of the country’s hinterland, where they gather in Maroon communities. Paulina is a house slave who works and lives in the home of the plantation owner. It is here that she meets the man who would become her partner for life: Klaas van der Meer, a Dutch carpenter who has moved to Suriname to escape the stirrings of revolution in the Netherlands. Paulina and Klaas have three children. Klaas realises that they are not his own, but the plantation owner’s. In this bizar world, he makes several transactions to purchase Paulina’s and his children’s freedom, buying them first from the owner and then from the Dutch state. The couple go on to live together in Paramaribo, but never marry. When Klaas passes away, former slave Paulina acquires ownership of various house slaves, while her son even becomes a plantation owner. This biography, in some ways a tale of reversed fortunes, highlights how the system kept people of colour locked in forever. The Treasure of Freedom lays bare the ties between independence and ambition in a complex colonial society. Can emancipation exist without reproducing oppressive structures? Paulina’s life showcases the many nuances of colonial society.<ul><li>This book offers a reflection on the past while displaying with intense accuracy how that past reaches into the present.</li><li>Neslo’s engaging narrative style immerses the reader in history.</li><li>This book sheds light on the volatility of the long term development of slavery.</li></ul>

In recounting this one single life, Neslo validates many more stories.

The book’s layered and ethically complex account stems from the author’s duality as a historian and descendant of slavery. Paulina is not presented as a hero, but as a woman who shifts between the possibilities and limitations of her time.

A forthright and fascinating contribution to public discourse on slavery, identity and post-colonial heritage.

Elco Lenstra

De schat van de Vrijheid

The Treasure of Freedom is a true story. As historian Ellen Neslo scrutinises her own family history, she presents an in-depth and evocative description of Suriname’s colonial past under Dutch rule. * This book is a compassionate attempt at reconstructing the life of one of her ancestors, Paulina.

The Treasure of Freedom

Rens Bod

Bod takes readers on a fascinating journey to discover what sets us apart from other animals – and what we have in common. The dividing line is marked by the uniquely human power of recursion: thinking about thinking, and then thinking about that.Wolves reach decisions democratically. Ants can count to twenty. Bees and ants use forms of majority rule. And plants – not just animals – communicate with each other. But humans and animals differ on one crucial matter: the ability to reflect on thoughts. ‘The fact that we’re able to endlessly search for patterns in patterns,’ says Rens Bod, ‘is what I call unlimited recursion. And it appears to be unique to humans.’Bod explores the limits of our knowledge through the lens of multiple scientific disciplines, searching for answers that not only help us to understand who we are, but also appreciate what connects us to other living beings. Rens Bod gathers numerous – supposedly unique – human qualities and researches whether these differences and similarities originate from a much deeper pattern. At the end of this groundbreaking book, the author offers a crystal-clear answer to what connects people, animals and other life forms as well as what continues to set them apart.<ul><li>English translation of the book is in the pipeline</li><li>Successful author whose book The Forgotten Sciences, discussing the history of social sciences, was released in seven countries.</li><li>Should beings other than humans have rights? This book will change your thinking.</li></ul>

A most enthralling of encyclopaedias. Over 300 pages, Rens Bod discusses what could be the complete range of similarities and differences between people and other living beings.

A profound journey of discovery to find the essence of humans and other animals and life forms.

Lotte de Boer

Het unieke dier. Op zoek naar het specifiek menselijke

Which underlying patters explain both the shared and unique characteristics of people and other life forms? That is the question at the heart of The Unique Animal. A question that, despite centuries of philosophical and scientific debate, has never before been researched with quite such rigour.

The Unique Animal

Annejet van der Zijl

In this masterly dual biography, Annejet van der Zijl describes not only their captivating careers but also the historical relationship between Japan and the West. Set at a time when Japan was completely isolated from the outside world, the story appears so far-fetched as to be the product of invention. Just one Dutch trading post, situated on the miniscule artificial island of Dejima off Nagasaki, was authorised to trade with the country. In 1823, the young German army physician Philipp Franz von Siebold, serving under the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, arrives on the island. He falls in love with the concubine Sonogi, with whom he has a daughter: Oine. Seven years later, the shogunate expels Von Siebold from Japan, tearing him away from the country and his beloved family. Upon returning to Europe, Franz von Siebold becomes the world’s authority on Japan. His daughter Oine Kusumoto, meanwhile, follows in her father’s footsteps and qualifies as the first female doctor in Japanese history. Father and daughter did everything in their power to see each other again. But when Japan was forced to open its ports in 1854, their reunion takes a completely unexpected course. The Floating World is the captivating and often emotional dual biography of an exceptional father and his equally unique daughter.<ul><li>This book shows the scale of the influence of Japanese civilisation on Western culture then and now.</li><li>A film-like account of a unique story from history</li><li>An American Princess - The Many Lives of Allene Tew became a Wall Street Journal bestseller and was selected as one of the best books of 2019 by The Guardian contributor Hilary Mantel.</li><li>Annejet van der Zijl is one of the Netherlands’ bestselling authors. Her books have been awarded many prizes, translated and adapted for the screen.</li><li>The English translation of her most famous work, Sonny Boy, titled The Boy Between Worlds, achieved international acclaim. </li></ul>

Annejet van der Zijl is the uncrowned queen of literary non-fiction.

A high-powered and striking dual biography.

Van der Zijl has been a master storyteller for over 25 years [...] a magnificent composition.

A great and balanced book.

Van der Zijl delivers a gripping account of the period, its people and the roles they were expected to play.

Written with dramatic verve and cinematographic flair.

A captivating dual biography about the incredible lives of a European doctor and his Japanese daughter in the nineteenth century.

De zwevende wereld. De verbonden levens van Franz von Siebold en Kusumoto Oine

Kusumoto Ine, the first female doctor in Japan to practise Western medicine, is a household name in her country. Her father, Franz von Siebold – a domineering German serving in the Dutch colony in Japan and one of the few Westerners to experience the land of the rising sun – enjoys the same status in the West.

The Floating World: A Dual Biography of Franz von Siebold and Kusumoto Oine

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