All Bark no Bite

Publisher: Atlas Contact 

No. 10 of best books of 2024 by Het Parool.

Ada grew up with her brother Broos in the trailer home of their father, an embittered horticulturist who wanted to straighten out what had been caressed crookedly by motherly fingers. He instilled in his children that the world is as cold as ice and that they should protect themselves against it. This is engrained deeply in Ada’s brain, even though she no longer has contact with her father and brother. Now that she has turned her back on her life as a disillusioned art student and left for Galicia to chop wood with a man she shares no language with, her brother forces himself on her more strongly with every blow of the axe: he is the only one whose body carries the same memories and whose muscles have the same reflexes. Yet they no
longer know each other.

All Bark no Bite is about sink or swim, bend or crack. Falun Ellie Koos first smashes all the pain and misery against the wall with precision, only to look at it with love and compassion. With a refined style and great psychological insight, Koos shows the ambivalent nature of man.

Praise:

‘An utterly irresistible debut. One of the best new books.’ ●●●● – NRC

‘The tension is palpable in almost every sentence of this powerful, often stunning debut novel. Exquisitely written. And it’s been a long time since I read such a gripping ending.’ – Het Parool

‘Sensitive, raw, vital and uncompromising prose. Breathtakingly beautiful and unforgettable.’ – Manon Uphoff, author of Falling Is Like Flying

‘Superbly written scenes […] Grabs you by the throat.’ – De Limburger

‘Koos keeps the balance between the raw and the sensitive, never lapses into false sentiment, skillfully avoids the pitfalls of cliché and dares to be funny in wry situations.’ – jury report C.C.S. Cronestipendium