Higher Powers

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)