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TESSA DE LOO made her debut in 1983 with GIRLS FROM THE CANDYFACTORY (MEISJES VAN DE SUIKERFABRIEK) has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. World English rights have also been sold to Haus (UK) for PIG IN A PALACE. She lives in south Portugal and Paris and is one of the most successful writers in the Dutch language.
Even though he is the son of a Dutch mother Said has a Moroccan first name in memory of the virtuoso Oud player his mother fell in love with twenty years ago. When she found out she was pregnant, he ran off and returned to Morocco. Said decides to look for his father, in the hope of finding a new identity in a new world. His childhood friend Hassan accompanies him. They only have one starting point – a grocery shop in Fez. From there they follow the trail of the Oud player, who leads them from the cedar woods of Ifrane to the red dunes of the desert to the high Atlas, where Kasbahs are locked in a losing battle with decay. The two friends, who as children shared shared an imaginary land which they both ruled – try to rekindle their friendship.
Said’s search sends him deeper into disillusionment and into the arms of Islam, where he tries to find something to hold on to. But there is a disturbing presence. A seemingly fictitious character from their imaginary land infiltrates Said’s. While Said desperately tries to get rid of him, different aspects of his life, more and more beyond his control, reach an apotheosis resulting in one final deed affecting man and beast alike.
‘Written without rose tinted glasses or succumbing to clichés .. De Loo is and remains an authentic born story teller.’ Rotterdams Dagblad
‘Imagination and violence play a big part in Tessa de Loo’s 6th novel, and the first ‘big’ one since THE TWINS. It is also a very relevant novel. HARLEKINO takes on many contemporary themes: the clash between religions, displacement, migration, friendship. Together with the original theme of the search for identity, that makes of HARLEKINO a great novel. The search for the father is described in such detail that the desert sand practically crunches between the pages.’ Parool
De Arbeiderspers NL;
Bertrand Editora Portugal;
Haus UK.
Material: Dutch edition (552pp), English sample.
Gerlof de Windt, retired teacher of classical languages, is very ill. His children want to make his last birthday into an unforgettable family celebration. That is not going to be easy because one of them, the rebel Bardo, was banished from the house twenty-five years ago and has not been back since. He drifts around in the south of Spain and no one knows what kind of life he leads. To reunite father and son - before it is too late - the only daughter of the family has sought contact with him and has managed to convince him to come back for this last opportunity.
The apparent certainties of life in a well-to-do and well structured world comes up against the idea of freedom based on conviction that Bardo stands for, and the moral consequences thereof. The still smouldering feud between father and son threatens to flair up again, while the question of who will have to look after father on his deathbed hangs like a dark cloud over the festivities. Because everyone is so busy - except perhaps Bardo?
'...a humorous novel written with great pace, a variant on the lost son story that doesn't miss it's mark.' Haagsche Courant
'Nuanced and carefully written, De Loo gives an un-pretty window onto the monster union that's called family.' Spitz
'...a cleverly compact novel.' Financieel Dagblad
De Arbeiderspers NL (original publisher);
C Bertelsmann Germany.
Material: Finished copies (173 pages).
'Yesterday I buried my father. Now I'm in the Astoria Hotel at Kossuth Lajos, utca number 19-21. I am lying in bed with his son.'
A story that spans multiple decades, A BED IN HEAVEN is narrated by Kata and follows her and her Jewish relatives in Budapest and Amsterdam. Jeno, Kata's father, escaped death during the Holocaust when a Dutch woman hid him in her house. Consequently, he falls in love with his rescuer, but she forces him to watch helplessly as she has sex with a Nazi soldier. After the war, Jeno leaves the woman, not knowing that she was pregnant with a child whose paternity the novel leaves uncertain. Years later, the child, now fully grown, meets Kata, his possible half-sister, and both are strangely attracted to each other. A sublime tale of objectionable desire, of love and of guilt, A BED IN HEAVEN is dramatic and haunting, forcing readers to question the basis of their own morality. Exquisite.
'...convincing proof that de Loo is one of Europe's most accomplished novelists.' Kirkus Review
'One of the most extraordinary and haunting novels I have read ... Part thriller, part poignant dramatic poem, it lingers disturbingly in the memory.' David Lister, Books of the Year, the Independent
'An intriguing smoking gun ... complete with simmering and forbidden sexual passion.' Sunday Times
'...a virtuoso performance.' Publishers' Weekly
De Arbeiderspers NL;
C. Bertelsmann Germany;
Arcadia UK & USA (Previously Soho Press USA);
Karisto Finland;
Eroika Czech Republic;
Sandesh Bangladesh.
Material: Finished copies (144 pages).
FILM ADAPTATION 'TWIN SISTERS' OSCAR NOMINATED FOR BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
One of the Sunday Times '100 Best Books of the Year' and No1. in The Independent's 50 Best Books of the Summer 2005.
Born in Cologne in 1916, the twins are brusquely separated from each other after the death of their parents. Anna grows up with her grandfather, in a primitive farming and Catholic milieu on the edge of the Teutoburgwald in Germany. Lotte ends up in the Netherlands because of her TB, living with an uncle who harbours strong socialistic sympathies. A bad relationship between the families and the intervening war causes contact between the two sisters to cease.
When their paths cross again, the twins are elderly women; they meet by chance at the famous health resort of Spa. Lotte, who sheltered Jews in hiding during the war, is initially extremely suspicious of her new-found twin sister. But through Anna’s painful stories she is confronted with the other side of her own reality: the sufferings of ordinary Germans in wartime.
In this monumental novel, Tessa De Loo compellingly weaves the story of two twin sisters separated in childhood with that of two countries opposed in war, and depicts in simple yet harrowing prose the effects of nature and nurture on the individual.
'Gripping and touching ... Tessa de Loo's powerful narrative filters Europe's grand events through a family story that tests 'the ties of blood' against the pull of passion and the blast of war.' The Independent
'Moving... de Loo doesn't seek to exonerate Germany but to tell the harrowing tale of war from two sides, to humanize history and add some ambiguity to the good-evil dichotomy.' Time Magazine
'Completely original, creating a piece of fiction whose poise, compassion and breadth take the reader's breath away.' Joan Smith, Sunday Times
'A huge success... a memorable and moving tale.' Sunday Telegraph
'Excellent... de Loo interleaves the twins' story with that of two countries locked in bloody conflict. A moving read about humanity's darkest hour.' Sebastian Shakespeare, Evening Standard
'Best-selling Dutch novelist Tessa de Loo's real achievement is to personalize this still unassimilated period of history.' Independent
'A flat-out masterpiece: exhilarating and unforgettable.' Kirkus Review
'This is not new territory, yet De Loo’s treatment is completely original, creating a piece of fiction whose poise, compassion and breadth take the reader’s breath away.' The Sunday Times
'Details of time, place and atmosphere are acutely evoked, and the characters are presented with a generous sympathy that stops short of special pleading. Already a best-seller in the author’s native Holland, the book deserves to become one here.' The Times
'All-seeing, it is brimming with scenes that are moving and sometimes disturbing.' Der Spiegel
FILM RIGHTS sold to IDTV in Holland: TWIN SISTERS (directed by Ben Sombogaart) was released in December 2002 in Holland, and is already listed among the top ten most visited Dutch films ever. MIRAMAX will distribute the film in the USA, Optimum in the UK, New Vision in Australia and New Zealand, Monopole Pathe in Switzerland, Gussi in Mexico, Kamras in Finland, Action Films in Norway, EFF in Iceland, EDKO in Hong Kong, VO Cines in Colombia, Ringford Corp in Argentina, LEV Cinemas in Israel, Playart in Brazil, Castello Lopes in Portugal, Tung Film Corp in Taiwan, Mondo TV in Italy, Gaga in Japan, Ster Kinekor in South Africa, Kinowelt in Germany, Atlantic Film in Sweden and Denmark, AG Market in Slovenia, Delta Video in Peru, and Tantra DMPC in Poland.
De Arbeiderspers NL;
C. Bertelsmann Germany;
Circulo do Lectores Spain;
Kinneret Israel;
Arcadia UK & USA;
Karisto Finland;
Alfa Turkey;
Eroika Czech Republic;
Alfa-Narodna Knjiga Serbia;
Pracownia Stow Poland;
Giunti Italy;
Minerva Nova Hungary;
Nippon Television Network Co. Japan;
Laffont France;
Skanderbeg Albania;
Bazar Forlag Sweden and Norway;
JPV Utgafa Iceland;
Sandesh Bangladesh;
Bertrand Editora Portugal;
Kronta Lithuania;
Text Russia;
RAO Romania;
Gema Greece.
Audio rights sold to Bolinda.
(Previously Soho Press USA)
Material: Finished copies (408pp)
'When I read that letter my old love for Byron came flooding back. I decided to travel with him, on horseback, making the same journey – even if it was two centuries later. I wanted to get to know not just Byron but Albania too...'
An absorbing contemporary travel adventure, Tessa de Loo recounts her expedition following in the footsteps of the infamous Lord Byron’s tour of the now harried terrain of Albania in 1809. Enthralled by the image of Lord Byron as a teenage girl, she sets about exploring not only his physical journey, but attempts to understand his inner one as well. The source of inspiration for his poem, 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage', the trail of Byron sets out de Loo's path, where she, in the midst of her gruelling pilgrimage, herself undergoes something of a transformation.
'[One notes] the seriousness and humour with which De Loo laces her contribution to superior travel literature... She gives her report in the form of letters to Byron (My dear friend, My dearest George) alternated with chapters where she recounts Byron’s journey. However euphoric De Loo’s report is not too affected, it stays lively and informative.... A Pig in the Palace is a book of contrasts, surprises and disappointments, written cheerfully and with eye for details.' Vrij Nederland
De Arbeiderspers NL;
Pracownia Stow Poland;
Bertelsmann Verlag Germany;
Skanderbeg Books Albania.