Ronald Giphart is the Dutch 'mister bestseller'. His blend of emotional honesty, upbeat characters, incomparable sparkling wit, and innovative writing, has won him legions of readers in Holland and beyond. Every book he has written has been optioned for film. He wrote the BookWeek gift book for 2003, GALA, a book with a print run of 700,000 copies.

 

To mark the BookWeek, Ronald Giphart's entire backlist - IK OOK VAN JOU, GIPH, HET FEEST DER LIEFDE, PHILEINE ZEGT SORRY, DE VOORZITTER, IK OMHELS JE MET DUIZEND ARMEN – was reissued with superb new covers.

A biting, highly entertaining novel about gastronomy, love, fame and ruin, by one of the most widely read writers of modern Dutch literature, TROOST is the new book from the winner of the C.C.S Croneprijs 2004 and the author of the successful BookWeek novella 2004 (which had a record print run).

 

'I want a double rainbow behind my teeth; I want to bombard my palate with a perfectly balanced carpet of taste, surprise my oesophagus and bring a state of bliss to my stomach, for less I won't do it.'

 

So says the main character in COMFORT. The wild cooking style of the 37-year-old top chef Art Troost is praised on all sides and crowned with Michelin stars. From far and wide people come to see him at work in his restaurant in Overdam on the Schoo.

 

Troost lives to cook and sees the world as a warehouse of ingredients; recipes occur to him all the time.

 

If there are three women walking down the street, then he pictures a delicate game dish, combined with a marinated young herring and a subtle soup of turnips, tea and crab.

 

Through his own cookery series on TV, named Sterallure, his fame grows to unknown heights.

 

Every week he invites two guests, who cook with him.

 

During the filming of the summer programme in a French castle, with a marathon- running philosopher and a voluptuous writer as guests, Troost's success suddenly begins to crumble. A novel to relish.

 

'This is a wonderful book.' NRC Handelsblad

 

'Hilarious and good ... a novel that literally and figuratively 'tastes' great.' De Telegraaf

 

'Troost has obviously been written with love: for food and for language.' Spits

 

'A grown-novel which makes you laugh heartily.' HP de Tijd

 

'A biting satire on TV and the culinary world. Giphart's new novel is the high point in his oeuvre.' Elsevier

Podium NL (original publisher)

 

Scritturapura Italy

 

Kiepenheuer & Witsch (Kiwi) Germany

 

Serambi Indonesia

 

GEMA Publications Greece

 

Bookstory Korea

 

Material: finished copies (222 pages); English sample.

It's a confusing time for the narrator, Giph: his mother has opted for euthanasia instead of the on-going pain of muscular dystrophy, but his career prospects are great, and he is happily in love. He is caught between his final farewell to being a child, and his adult future both in love and work. Ronald Giphart here considers the constancy of love at the best and worst of times.

 

'Very well written, with great pace ... Apart from being very funny it is also a very serious book.' Het Parool

 

'All is told in Giphart's well known tone, light, springy, full of innovative language and jokes which you shouldn't really be laughing at, but do. The timing is perfect. Every sentence has rhythm, everything has the swing of the vital, infectious luck of his characters, and you can't deny that this is literature.' NRC Handelsblad

Podium NL

 

List Verlag Germany

 

IK OMHELS JE MET DUIZEND ARMEN: film by IdtV Film and Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen

 

Material: Dutch (320 pp) and German editions; English sample translation.