Boekenweek Part 2: You Have Me to Love

You Have Me to Love by Jaap Robben, Translated by David Doherty, © 2014, World Editions

Grief is a familiar topic for me. So when I read the description of 'You Have Me to Love' by Jaap Robben, the theme spoke to me.

"On a remote island somewhere in the North Atlantic, a nine-year-old boy looks on helplessly as his father is swept out to sea. Consumed by guilt and paralyzed by his mother's frantic grief, Mikael cannot bring himself to tell the truth about what happened. As the pair struggle to restore the fragile balance of their isolated lives, the young widow starts to demand the impossible of her only son."

A woman distraught over the loss of her husband is relatable. Hearing the story from her son's perspective is intriguing. Delving into her complicated and prolonged grief is disturbing, but worth exploring with the help of Robben's powerful prose. How does anyone handle someone stuck in their bereavement, especially when you have your own loss to process and understand? That is Mikael's challenge, and he is only 9 years old when his father drowns. Plus, he lives on an isolated island with no other support at his disposal to help either himself or his grieving mother. It sounds like a recipe for disaster.

While the subject matter is challenging, Robben tackles the novel with an unexpected beauty. Guilt is a familiar emotion in grief and Mikael struggles with it, especially as he is the only witness to his father's death. As the years pass, he tries to embrace love and acceptance once more, only to be confronted by his mother's inability to process her own grief. Add to that the spectre of loneliness—another component of bereavement—and compound it with their remote island home. How is one to find hope? Readers can only pray that Mikael can find the strength and maturity to combat his mother's impossible demands. To say anything more, would spoil the plot for readers eager to dive into Robben's highly-acclaimed novel.

The book is currently being adapted into an English-language film.

Boekenweek

Jaap Robben

'You Have Me to Love' is the second novel I had the pleasure of reading for Boekenweek. What a week to celebrate; a festival of literature for 10 days! I choose to read Thirty Days and You Have Me to Love to explore both a Belgian (Verbeke) and Dutch (Robben) author—Belgium and the Netherlands being the two main host countries of Boekenweek.

While Verbeke's novel was excellent, Robben's perfectly touched on this year's theme—The Mother The Woman. The blurred lines between those roles are a stark part of Robben's engaging narrative. As a woman, where do the lines start and end in motherhood? You might want to check out more books from this year's Boekenweek theme to help figure that out.

World Editions also provides more information about Boekenweek and the many tours, readings, and festivals going on in North America from March 23-31, 2019. They are proud supporters of high-quality English literature on a world scale, with an affinity for their European and, more specifically, their Dutch roots. Care to read more of their books? World Editions can help.

Boekenweek: Thirty Days

Thirty Days, by Annelies Verbeke, Translated by Liz Waters © 2015, World Editions

The back cover of Thirty Days introduces the story of our main character—"Alphonse is a Senegalese immigrant who uproots his life in Brussels to become a handyman in rural Flanders." This is but the tip of the iceberg.

Annelies Verbeke creates a character loved by most of the people he meets in Thirty Days. Alphonse has depth, sensitivity, and a thoughtfulness borne from a caring, if distant, mother. His travels around the world help too. But while most people like and open up to Alphonse as soon as they meet him, that experience isn't universal. There are still those who have issue with him. That issue stems directly from the colour of his skin.

Thirty Days is a timely novel that scratches beneath the glossy veneer of civilization. Refugees are everywhere today and their treatment isn't always civil. While Verbeke shows us the ugly image of refugee camps on the fringes of Flanders, the presence of refugees is not exclusive to Europe. Plenty of displaced people can be found in Canada as well. Their plight is a global issue. And while many wish the problem (and people) would disappear, it would seem not enough people do their part to ease this crisis.

As Alphonse is an immigrant himself, he cannot ignore the pain of displaced people. He knows all too well of leaving family behind and the struggle to find a place to call home. Even as he is welcomed on the surface by neighbours and clients, Alphonse still comes across racism and anger on a regular basis. The obvious reactions less painful and confusing than the subtle words and actions from people closer to him. All Alphonse wants is to be loved and to belong. A noble goal for all, I believe. One that is close to Verbeke's heart and I think that she illuminates beautifully in her novel.

Boekenweek

One of the exciting parts for me about reading Thirty Days is that it is part of Boekenweek. Boekenweek is a week-long celebration of books in the Netherlands and Belgium. This year, those celebrations have spilled over into North America. So not only was I fortunate enough to read Thirty Days, but I am also taking part in the North American Blog Tour celebrating Dutch and Flemish authors.

From March 23rd to April 1st, bloggers across the continent are writing reviews, hosting Q&As, and offering book giveaways for many of World Editions featured authors. A few of those authors, including Annelies Verbeke, are even touring the United States, attending festivals and talks about their novels and the themes within them. If you get a chance, I'm sure those events would be enlightening, especially Annelies' take on racism and refugee issues inherent in today's world.

Thank you to World Editions for including me in the tour. If you get the chance, take the time to visit some of the other bloggers on the tour to see their takes on the Boekenweek novels. I plan to!

Countdown America

In celebration of International Women's Day, today I look at a book not only written by a woman, but featuring an amazingly strong female protagonist. As a woman, we often feel like we have to do it all to come close to making it in today's demanding world. As a single parent, that pressure is even more, as there literally isn't anyone else to step up and take the reins to give that much needed break on occasion. 

Author M.C. Fox gets that and created a character all women can relate to and gain inspiration from. You won't be able to put down her newest book Countdown America. Don't take my word for it though. Hear what Fox has to say about her novel in her own words.

Countdown America: Talking with M.C. Fox

Question: Tell us what Countdown America is all about.

M.C. Fox:. Countdown America is about a single mom, Isabella Bendel, who rises through the ranks of the CIA to Chief Supervisor of the Cyber Terrorism Unit. She finds herself at the other end of a case she never thought she would ever be on. Trying to figure out why she has become a target, while also trying to figure out why her family has been abducted. This is the toughest mission she has ever worked. She finds herself fighting her way through assassins, cyber-terrorists, and duplicitous fellow agents, as she uncovers a Russian plot that is hell-bent on destroying the United States.

Q: What inspired you to write this novel?

Fox: Initially it was hearing about Russia’s attacks against countries of the former Soviet Republic. More recently, the news of the moles found in the United States, the hacking of our elections, and as reported, political meddling in several other countries. I thought it was the perfect ingredients for a spy story set in the world of political cyber-espionage.

Q: Isabella Bendel seems like a fierce character. What was your motivation behind creating such a strong female protagonist?  

Fox: Firstly, I wanted to create a female lead. There are not a lot of female lead characters in the spy genre. In my mind, Isabella couldn’t be anything but strong considering she is a single mom, and in her case, her line of work. I believe she is a good role model for women. She rises above her emotional distress and her vulnerability and carries on with the task at hand.

Q: It is interesting that you created Isabella to be a single mother. What was your thought behind that choice?

Fox: My thought was to create a strong yet vulnerable character. Being a single mom can be very vulnerable. You are doing it all. There are so many single mom’s out there that feel they can’t make it on their own, can’t do what they need to do to take care of their children.  I think it can speak to those single mom’s that don’t feel they can do it all. When they see Isabella doing it, it could help them see that they can too.

Q: And why cyber security – why did you tackle that subject?

Fox: It is a very “now” thing and I thought it would make a great plot line. We hear more and more of cyber related threats out there, for example, identity theft, and hacking financial institutions to name a few. More recently Russia’s reported involvement in the hacking of the elections in the United States. Everything is cyber related and it is a real threat, as we see played out in the news more and more.

Q: Beyond being entertained, what do you hope readers take away from reading Countdown America?

Fox: I hope it moves people to rise above circumstances and succeed. To move past the notion that because they are female, or vulnerable, that success is not an option.  I also hope to bring awareness around cyber threat. We live in a day and age when everything is cyber related.  The threats are real and so too must be the efforts to remove that threat. 

M.C. Fox

For more information, please visit www.mcfoxauthor.com and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram. Countdown America can be found on Amazon and other retailers