Benny Lindelauf

Last week I was in Spain when I received an e-mail from Claudia Bedrick from ‘Enchanted Lion’ that the American edition of ‘Nine Open Arms’ had received two stars, one by ‘Kirkus Reviews’ and one by ‘Publishers weekly’. As I was unfamiliar with the starsystem in the United States I did not comprehend the enthusiastic response by Claudia (‘You and John (the translator) seem to make an amazing team!’) In Holland newspapers use also a starsystem to review books, but the maximum is five stars. Only later on my Dutch editor Dik Zweekhorst explained to me that it is very special that the book received so many stars.

Here are parts of the reviews.

Kirkus Reviews: ‘Lindelauf lures readers into the intrigue and mystery of it all and then demands their intense concentration. Every element of the tale has a purpose, and in the end, the multiple layers of past and present seperate and come together in surprising, often discomfing twists and turns. A challenging and entirely unique Dutch import.’

Publisher’s Weekly: ‘Lindelauf’s masterful rendering of fraught yet loving sisterly ties, snappy dialogue, gravery mysteries and ‘traces of tragical tragedy’from generations past combine to humurous and poignant effect in this gripping tale of eclectic families and inveterate wanderers in search of a welcoming home.’

So: Hurray!