Winter Ice
Multiple award-winning literary young adult novel
Over 50.000 sold copies
Post-war Amsterdam,1947. During a long, hot summer, 10-year-old Thomas wanders through the city all by himself. He looks back on the coldest and longest winter ever. His mother has died; his father is an artist who can barely make a living. Then Thomas befriends a Jewish boy called Zwaan and Zwaan’s cousin. Thomas gradually discovers the scars the war has left on their lives, which considerably changes his own life.
The expressive detail and the constant changes in time and place create a three-dimensional map of post-war Amsterdam, including the smells and colours of a crowded classroom, the solid cold snow on the canals, the slippery ice on the Amstel river and the double bed in which Thomas and Zwaan sleep. The underlying emotions are timeless: children like Thomas are still bullied because they are different than the rest and children and adults alike still suffer in silence, unable to share certain emotions.
Praise:
‘A masterpiece.’ – NRC
‘A beautiful story about two friends growing up.’ – De Limburger
‘A charming story about friendship and love.’ – de Volkskrant
Rights sold to Beltz & Gelberg (Germany), Gallimard (France), Feltrinelli (Italy), Samokat (Russia & Ukraine), Zhejiang (China), Momo Agency (Korea) and Panamericana Editorial (Spanish-speaking South America)
