TESSA DE LOO

HARLEKINO
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.

Brought up by his mother, who never really got over the shock, 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. In Morocco the middle ages and the twenty-first century seem to coexist side by side.

The two friends, who shared a passion in their youth – they shared an imaginary land which they both ruled – try to rekindle their friendship. That turns out to be harder than they thought, both have changed and sexual confusion causes tension.

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 world more and more. While Said desperately tries to get rid of him, ifferent aspects of his life, more and more beyond his control, reach an apotheosis resulting in one final deed affecting man and beast alike.

A story about what can happen if the imagination is really given free reign and power, peppered with twists and turns which continually wrong-foot the reader.

SALES: De Arbeiderspers NL (publication November 2008); Bertrand Editora Portugal.

THE SON FROM SPAIN (DE ZOON UIT SPANJE )

'...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

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?

Material: Finished copies (173 pages).

Sales: De Arbeiderspers NL (original publisher); C Bertelsmann Germany.

A BED IN HEAVEN (EEN BED IN DE HEMEL)

'...convincing proof that de Loo is one of Europe's most accomplished novelists.' Kirkus Reviews

'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.

Material: Finished copies (144 pages).

Published by De Arbeiderspers NL; Arcadia UK & USA (previously Soho Press USA); Bertelsmann Germany; Karisto Finland; Eroika Czech Republic; Magyar Konyvklub Hungary; Sandesh Bangladesh.

'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

THE TWINS (DE TWEELING)

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.

DE TWEELING (The Twins) is published by De Arbeiderspers NL; Arcadia UK and USA; Bertelsmann Germany; Laffont France; Giunti Italy; Karisto Finland; Kinneret Israel; Eroika Czech Republic; Alfa Turkey; Alfa-Narodna Knjiga Serbia; Pracownia Slow Poland; Sandesh Bangladesh; Circulo do Lectores Spain; Minerva Nova Hungary; Nippon TV Japan; Skanderbeg Albania; Bazar Forlag Sweden & Norway; JPV Utgafa Iceland; Gema Greece; Kronta Lithuania; Bertrand Portugal; Text Publishing Russia; Audio rights sold to Bolinda. (Previously Soho Press USA)

'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.' Amanda Hopkinson, 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.

TESSA DE LOO made her debut in 1983 with GIRLS FROM THE CANDYFACTORY (MEISJES VAN DE SUIKERFABRIEK) which will appear in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine shortly. She lives in south Portugal and Paris and is one of the most successful writers in the Dutch language.