Higher Powers
A novel about a love affair as passionate as it is complicated, and an erudite whistle-stop tour of the 20th century
It’s the early decades of the 20th century. James Welmoed is too British for his Dutch school – just like he’ll be too Dutch for London later in life. In 1930s Indonesia, he is an inscrutable member of the colonial establishment. No one knows what to make of him – including Elisabeth van Elsenburg, an eighteen-year-old so witty she could only be the brainchild of an author with a keen intellect and boundless dexterity. She’ll grow up to be a writer, but first she embarks on a love affair with Welmoed which, even though it will be cut short, will shape both their lives.
This deliciously clandestine and intellectual love affair is set in places where the events of the 20th century had a profound effect. From the Dutch East Indies and the Dutch community in London during the Blitz to a cell in Egypt under the nationalist president Nasser. Like in all of his work, De Vries explores the relationship between modern people and their surroundings, brilliantly moving between different forms of storytelling. With equal devotion, De Vries describes the games the colonial elite use to relieve their boredom and the cruelty of the battlefield in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. In the midst of it all, we witness a betrayal of Biblical proportions, De Vries pays homage to Simone de Beauvoir, and a secondary character seems straight out of Hanya Yanigihara’s A Little Life. In the end, De Vries has his characters find what they were looking for: a sense of wholeness – if not together, then each on their own.
Publishing details
Hogere machten (2024)
Higher Powers
320 pages
84,850 words
7,500 copies sold
Publisher
Prometheus
Nikki Verkerk
foreignrights@pbo.nl
Rights
A.M. Heath
Alexandra McNicoll
alexandra.mcnicoll@amheath.com
Translated titles
De republiek (The Republic): Catalonia and Spain (Anagrama, 2017), Estonia (Varrak, 2020), France (Plon, 2020), Germany (Heyne, 2016), Greece (Metaixmio, 2016), Italy (Bompiani, 2017), South Korea (Hyundae Munhak, 2020), UK (Arcadia, 2019), US (Other Press). Oude meesters [Old Masters]: France (Les Escales, 2020)
“His best yet (...) An effortless flair characterises De Vries’ prose. He is an assured storyteller, so consummately in control that he can permit himself all kinds of liberties. Quickfire, tennismatch dialogue, abrupt segues and associative leaps, lists, jokes, letters, transcriptions of radio interviews, and – of course – a handful of aphorisms.”
“With his ingenious storylines De Vries, deftly interweaving plots, is reminiscent in moments of Ian McEwan’s razor-sharp scrutiny of the zeitgeist and John le Carré’s brilliantly plotted espionage novels (…) His keen intellect is everywhere apparent.”
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