Childhood: Two Novellas

Eleven-year-old Elmer inhabits a childhood of superstition, private lore and secret societies that only certain friends can join (and of which he is always president). When a new boy, pale, spindly Werther, arrives in the neighbourhood, a subtle game of fascination and persecution begins.

In wartime Amsterdam, a young boy watches as Germans occupy the city. At first his parents’ friends, the Boslowits family, think they have little to fear. Then, slowly, terribly, their fate is sealed.

In these two haunting novellas from the acclaimed author of The Evenings, the world of childhood, in all its magic and strangeness, darkness and cruelty, is evoked with piercing wit and dreamlike intensity. Here, the things seen through a child’s eyes are far from innocent.

Gerard Reve (1923-2006) is considered one of the greatest post-war Dutch authors, and was also the first openly gay writer in the country’s history. A complicated and controversial character, Reve is also hugely popular and critically acclaimed. The first English translation of his masterpiece The Evenings shipped more than 20,000 copies in the UK and was a three-time book of the year in 2016.