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  • Cover Handicap
    Cover Handicap

    Anaïs Van Ertvelde was born with a short right forearm. A matter of course for her, she thought, but other people seemed to question it. At a certain point she discovered that there was much more behind that disability, in both personal and social terms.

  • Cover De man met de panamahoed
    Cover De man met de panamahoed

    Harry Kessler was an intellectual dandy, and politics and art were the focus of his life. He defended the arts from every form of political interference. As an arts patron, lover of males, publisher, thinker and writer, he pledged himself to no one and refused to live according to other people’s expectations.

  • Cover James Ensor
    Cover James Ensor
    James Ensor
    A magnificent style – scholarly but vivid and punchy
    Ons Brussel

    James Ensor (1860–1949) was everything in one: cocky and solitary, baron and bohemian, a misunderstood bourgeois, a peintre maudit who surveyed the world from his ivory tower in Ostend and sought refuge in the salons of Brussels. Min peels away the mask of the mythmaker to create a wonderful portrait of this enigmatic and multi-faceted painter.

  • Cover Napoleon
    Cover Napoleon
    Napoleon
    A consummate storyteller. Narrative history of the most fascinating kind
    Knack

    The French Revolution and Napoleon: two epic, captivating tales from western history brought together in a vibrant and compelling narrative. This revised and expanded edition is the result of working on the French translation, published by Flammarion in 2023.

  • Cover Ik zal alles verdragen, ook mezelf
    Cover Ik zal alles verdragen, ook mezelf
    I Will Endure Everything, Including Myself
    The diary of the ‘Flemish Sartre’, which after reading just one page is impossible to put down.
    NRC Handelsblad

    Leopold Flam (1912-1995) lived for the greater part of his childhood in a cellar in Antwerp. At the age of thirteen, Flam started keeping a diary that was as candid as it was grim. The fact that he managed to lift himself out of the extreme poverty of his early years rates as a minor miracle. The son of beggars eventually became a professor of philosophy. Leopold Flam published an impressive number of books and articles, but his diaries – which he kept all his life, literally until he was on his deathbed – are among his strongest work. Out of more than two million (!) words, Kristien Hemmerechts and Guido Van Wambeke have compiled a fascinating book.

  • Lotgenoten
    Lotgenoten
    Companions in Fate
    An impressive debut novel.
    Pompidou

    In this coming-of-age novel we follow Ajali during her final year at secondary school. As a child of Rwandan refugees, she has difficulty finding her place in society. She feels distanced both from her family and from her white classmates. Not a single word is wasted in ‘Companions in Fate’. In a style both clear and incisive, Ingabire has written a relevant and necessary tale about growing up, trauma and love in a family that struggles both with silence and the past. 

  • W.
    W.
    W.
    A fresh, original debut novel.
    Trouw

    Olaf's world is shaken by the sudden reappearance of his best friend W. in Antwerp. The news marks the start of thirteen gripping days in which he goes searching for answers. Why did W. disappear? How real are Olaf's memories of their friendship? Hiemstra's debut pays tribute to youth and the idealism that goes with it. An addictive novel with distinctly layered characters, playful in its language and composition.

  • 0xBlixa
    0xBlixa
    0xBlixa
    An outstanding exploration of a little-known niche world.
    Humo

    Dive into the alienating world of 0xBlixa, the online alter-ego of 31 year old Paul. He's a self-proclaimed 'venture capitalist angel investor in search of inner peace'. Van Meenen examines the dark side of the crypto universe, exposing the intoxicating allure of profit and the risks that come with it. Paul's quest for a slower life clashes with his online presence: gradually more and more cracks appear in his world. 

     

  • Cover 'Bintje'
    Cover 'Bintje'
    Bintje
    Salumu’s debut novel chafes, clings, touches and shames
    De Morgen

    Bintje, who carries both Belgium and Congo within her, struggles with the process of forming an identity and with the influence of the socio-political situation on a family. In meticulous prose, Salumu shows what it’s like to grow up as a girl and woman of colour in a white environment. She raises fascinating philosophical questions about identity, generational trauma, admiration and parenthood, and succeeds in deeply affecting the reader with this passionate debut.

  • Cover 'Holy Wrath'
    Cover 'Holy Wrath'
    Holy Wrath
    The pinnacle of his oeuvre, that can easily rival the absurdist novels of ideas by Camus.
    De Standaard

    Peter wants to see the Second World War end as quickly as possible, so he joins the resistance. Engaging in arms drops, sabotage missions, and defending a bridge, he witnesses the brutal toll of conflict. 
    According to D’Haese, not only is warfare senseless, all of life is subject to existential doubt. 
    ‘Holy Wrath’, with its acerbic anti-war message, remains relevant and topical today.

  • Cover 'Sunday'
    Cover 'Sunday'
    Sunday
    Brilliant. An already great artist reaching even greater heights
    The Comics Journal

    ‘Sunday’ follows a man from morning till midnight. For 472 pages, we follow every single one of his banal, uninteresting, sometimes embarrassing and frequently irritating thoughts. From this seemingly dull and unlikely premise, Olivier Schrauwen manages to distil a brilliant graphic novel.

  • Cover 'The Quest 1'
    Cover 'The Quest 1'
    The Quest
    Mannaert is one of the stars of the contemporary graphic novel
    Enola

    The Pellinors have been hunting the Beast for a thousand years - to no avail. Reluctantly, their descendant Pelli decides to accept the quest of his forefathers. With its colourful, dynamic drawings and wondrous events, ‘The Quest’ is bound to appeal to young and old alike.

  • Cover 'The Jellyfish King'
    Cover 'The Jellyfish King'
    The Jellyfish King
    Reading Brecht Evens is a sensory experience. The colours explode on every page
    RTBF

    In preparation for the battle between good and evil that is just a matter of time, Arthur’s father trains him and talks him into believing that nobody can be trusted. In his incomparable fashion, Brecht Evens creates the paranoid world of a child who is doomed to mistake illusion for truth.

  • Cover 'Araya'
    Cover 'Araya'
    Araya
    Powerful themes in simple drawings
    Hebban

    Araya moves from Belgium to Thailand to go live with her mother. In simple black-and-white drawings, the semi-autobiographical ‘Araya’ paints a complex portrait of a young woman struggling with her bi-cultural identity, her sexuality, the relationship with her mother and her self-image.

  • Cover 'The Barflies'
    Cover 'The Barflies'
    The Barflies
    Minimalist with strong dialogue. Simply extremely powerful
    De Stripkever

    Two strangers at a bar become embroiled in a philosophical discussion about belief, disbelief, science, truth and God, while the bartender acts as a peacekeeper.  Ben Gijsemans’ minimalist linework gives us little more than talking heads and the bar with the three characters. ‘The Barflies’ is a remarkable book about conviction, faith and self-image, and ultimately also about persuasion.

  • Magnificent Monster
    Magnificent Monster
    Magnificent Monster
    Without doubt one of the books of the year. *****
    Het Nieuwsblad

    An artist and LGTBQ+ activist is mourning the loss of her wife who died unexpectedly of cancer a few years earlier. To break out of her loneliness and her impasse, she leaves for the United States. There she repeats the road trip taken by Carol and Therese, the central characters in the book ‘Carol’ by Patricia Highsmith. 'Magnificent Monster' is a compelling journey in which Pierets offers sophisticated insights on relationships, art and loss. 

  • Cover 'Shadowland'
    Cover 'Shadowland'
    Shadowland
    Gets under your skin ****
    Het Parool

    Grace and Margot are twelve and sixteen when along with their father Saul, they are involved in a terrible car crash. Fifteen years later, the sisters are still struggling with the consequences of the accident. When Saul is linked to the disappearance of a young girl, Grace returns to the place where she grew up. How could the car crash have happened? And what exactly took place that night? 

  • Cover 1942
    Cover 1942
    1942
    This book will resonate for a long time and I do hope it will have a healing effect on society.
    DeWereldMorgen

    This book is more than a reconstruction of a forgotten war year. It offers a new way of understanding World War II, which raises questions that reach far beyond the pitch-black year of 1942. Set against this startling background, the author examines the past, as well as the acceptance and denial of what came to pass.

  • De ongelijkheidsmachine
    De ongelijkheidsmachine
    The Inequality Machine
    Paul Goossens mercilessly tears to shreds the history of inequality
    Humo

    How can it be that the wealth of a handful of people exceeds that of half the world’s population, and why is this obscene concentration of riches not ridiculed out of existence? Questions that matter. Critical research into the mainstays of inequality is essential, even in the light of the greatest challenge of our time, climate change.

  • Waarom niemand kwantum begrijpt maar iedereen er toch iets over moet weten
    Waarom niemand kwantum begrijpt maar iedereen er toch iets over moet weten
    Why Nobody Understands Quantum and Everybody Needs to Know Something About It
    The scope, depth, and artistry are breathtaking.
    John Preskill (Caltech)

    Quantum physics gives us an understanding of matter that is so broad, powerful and precise that practically all of modern technology depends upon it. At the same time, quantum is uncommonly hard to fathom. No other theory contradicts our intuition so strongly or has led to so much controversy.

  • Des te erger voor de feiten
    Des te erger voor de feiten
    So Much the Worse for the Facts
    Sharp as a knife.
    De Morgen

    German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel once summed up his philosophical project with the words ‘So much the worse for the facts’. It was an audacious argument in favour of theory and against the journalistic concerns of the day. In his book of that name, Anton Jäger, an up-and-coming philosophy talent, collects five years’ worth of essays that take an approach based on political philosophy.

  • Lost
    Lost
    Lost
    Compelling, moving, astonishingly true to life – a masterpiece!
    Herman Van Goethem

    In ‘Lost’ Ingrid Vander Veken uses individual stories to describe the lesser-known pathways of the great events of history. She was contacted by the relatives of a family smashed to pieces by the Second World War, asking her whether, based on a paper archive, she would be willing to search for traces of a woman who, along with her young son, fled Nazi persecution for four years only to die in Auschwitz.

  • Cover 'The Times'
    Cover 'The Times'
    The Times
    Provocatively, propulsively written
    De Morgen

    Elvis Peeters describes how history operates upon the lives of three generations. Emiel is a child during the Second World War. His daughter Hannelore a ‘no future’ punk moving to London. Grandson Matteo a law student seduced by the extreme right. They all take a stand against their own era and ultimately have to pay the price.

  • Cover 'Bear's Glasses'
    Cover 'Bear's Glasses'
    Bear's Glasses
    Another gorgeous Timmers spectacle, full of captivating details.
    De Morgen on 'The Monster Lake'

    Bear can’t find his glasses anywhere, and without them he can’t see properly. On his way to Giraffe, Bear sees all kinds of animals that were never there before. He makes Giraffe curious and they set off together to retrace the route. But now with his glasses on (they were on his head all along), Bear can no longer find the deer, the crocodile, the elephant and the flamingo. Might his glasses be broken? 

  • Cover 'Mauk'
    Prize winner
    Cover 'Mauk'
    Prize winner
    Mauk
    Reading ‘Mauk’ means digging deep to reach the bottom, but having got there you find gold
    De Volkskrant

    Mauk looks back on his life with few warm feelings. He remembers above all a tyrannical father who was not in command of his own demons and therefore unleashed them on his wife and child. ‘Mauk’ shows how a violent past marks a person for life. It's a novel about pain, loss of innocence, guilt, loneliness and emotional disfigurement, but also about imagination as a survival strategy. A story both haunting and poignant.

  • Cover 'Aldo and Rino'
    Cover 'Aldo and Rino'
    Aldo and Rino
    Dazzling and distinctive design combined with subtle humour
    Pluizuit on 'Henry'

    Brothers Aldo and Rino love Nonna’s spaghetti. When Nonna trips and drops a plate on the floor, the two brothers have to share the remaining pasta. They bolt it down, until a single strand remains. With one end in his mouth, each does all he can to prevent the other from eating the last bit. In this playful and surreal story full of visual humour, friendship, sharing, brotherhood, letting go and getting things into proportion are central.

  • Cover 'Just Look!'
    Cover 'Just Look!'
    Just Look!
    Sensitive and delicate, with streaks of unruly humour
    De Morgen

    Slug tells Toad that something is about to happen, without saying exactly what. Together they wait. When the sun rises, it becomes clear to the reader what Slug means but meanwhile Toad has become too agitated to be able to enjoy the sparkling splendour. ‘Just Look!’ appeals to us to look around us, but even more importantly to want, to dare, to see everyday miracles.

  • Cover 'Carlota, The Woman Who Ate Roses'
    Cover 'Carlota, The Woman Who Ate Roses'
    Carlota, The Woman Who Ate Roses
    An exciting whodunnit and a wonderful piece of biofiction
    Tzum

    This engrossing historical novel on Charlotte of Belgium opens up remarkable worlds: that of the royal house and the nobility, that of a powerfully evocative Mexico, and that of the human spirit, which after loneliness and longing flirts with madness. Dieltiens shows us a fascinating woman, who flounders and obstinately tries to keep her head above water. In this fictional biography, the daughter of King Leopold I has her honour restored, in sparkling prose.

  • Cover 'The Pale Baron'
    Cover 'The Pale Baron'
    The Pale Baron
    A contemporary story that slowly seizes you by the throat
    Pluizuit

    In the underwater state, the pale baron is the leader. He has a strong dislike of poets: one day he fires all of them into space. Fortunately, Felix and Felka are not poets but singers. Yet their names too find their way onto the list of ‘inferiors’ that the dictatorial baron wants to remove from his land. A painful story with humour about how we treat, or are in danger of treating, each other nowadays.

  • Cover 'Witch Child'
    Cover 'Witch Child'
    Witch Child
    One of the greatest artistic talents of the world of Flemish graphic novels
    Enola

    Jean is not only the son of a witch, he’s the grandson of a witch, the brother of a witch and the cousin of a whole host of witches. But he can’t cast spells. When a magic-drinker attacks his family, turning the witches one by one into lifeless dolls, it’s up to Jean and his sister to try to save them. ‘Witch Child’ is an utterly thrilling adventure. With humour and verve, Stedho and Max L’Hermenier create a world that is both realistic and magical.

  • Cover 'Scheisseimer'
    Cover 'Scheisseimer'
    Scheisseimer. Sketched memories of a war
    Ambivalent, subjective, with more questions than answers. And precisely for that reason very honest and brave
    Rekto:Verso

    ‘Scheisseimer’ is an overwhelming set of impressions in ink. Through the eyes of a child, we see the cruelty and banality of war come up against the naivety of a little boy who sees adventure and play in everything. At the same time the book depicts the struggles of an adult artist who is trying to come to terms with his past, his family and his origins. A necessary book, full of darkness and empathy, heart-rending experiences and devastating disillusionment.

  • Cover 'Brussels Blues'
    Cover 'Brussels Blues'
    Brussels Blues
    One of the best Flemish crime novels for a long time
    De Standaard

    Keller Brik is a classic detective in every sense: pig-headed, cynical and distrustful, yet cursed with an immense sense of responsibility and the conviction that the bad guys must never win. In 'Brussels Blues' we follow him investigating a family tragedy, searching for a vanished transmigrant and collaborating with the biggest mob in the Brussels underworld. In the dark underbelly of the city lies the key to all mysteries.

  • Cover 'Restless as the Wind'
    Cover 'Restless as the Wind'
    Restless as the Wind
    Janssen and Moradi show the beauty of fragile people
    Knack Focus

    On the edge of Ghent lies a square kilometre hemmed in by a railway line and a major highway. In writing that is both poetic and philosophical, Moradi describes the lives of the residents of her district. With pen, pencil and felt-tip Janssen records colourful impressions of views, homes, people, lives. On assignment in their own neighbourhood, they show the beauty that resides in its ugliness.

  • Cover 'Atta'
    Cover 'Atta'
    Atta
    Pure and adventurous without any fuss; a breath of fresh air amid the hype of children’s book country.
    Friesch Dagblad

    Eleven-year-old Atta lives in the Stone Age. She is jealous of the boys, who are allowed to go hunting with the men. So she takes matters into her own hands – and finds herself eye to eye with a savage mammoth. Atta is a cocky and headstrong girl that gains a better knowledge of both herself and her prejudices in this thrilling adventure. Jolien Janzing brings to life a version of prehistoric times that makes a delightful setting. 

  • Cover 'What Remains to Us'
    Cover 'What Remains to Us'
    What We Have Left
    Aline Sax convincingly shows how words can be used to make the horror of war almost tangibly present in the reader's mind.
    Mappalibri

    Berlin, April 1945. Through the eyes of a German girl, Aline Sax arrestingly describes the horrors of war. She does so in short, measured, rhythmical sentences that slow the reader down and increase the impact. In filmic images, a reality unfolds that stresses the moral ambiguity of war. This haunting novel in verse looks at human beings from every angle, as cruel, courageous, cowardly, hopeful, but above all resilient.

  • Cover Joséphine
    Cover Joséphine
    Joséphine
    Anne-Laure Van Neer continues to produce writing of a consistently high quality.
    Knack

    In an assisted living complex, a select company regularly meets in the utmost secrecy: the Thanatos Club. The elderly members have just one wish: to determine how they end their lives and to die with dignity. The members tend to an illicit poison garden that produces the necessary ingredients. But when the greedy director of the complex announces new building plans, the future of the poison garden is suddenly uncertain. 

  • Cover A Very Tiny Ship
    Cover A Very Tiny Ship
    A Very Tiny Ship
    A masterful little work.
    Louis Paul Boon

    When Chris Yperman published her debut ‘A Very Tiny Ship’, the book quickly acquired a cult status. In the novella, protagonist and narrator Christina describes and documents her turbulent love life and her interaction with a group of friends and lovers.

  • Cover Icons
    Cover Icons
    Icons
    An overwhelming, nihilistic novel. ****
    De Volkskrant

    ‘Icons’ offers us a glimpse inside closed mental institutions in Flanders in the 1970s. Patients are inhumanely treated, left to their fate or, even worse, subjected to medical experiments. In a down-to-earth and apparently simple idiom, Vlaminck takes us with him into the head of a corrupt monk.

  • Cover Discontent
    Cover Discontent
    Discontent
    Paul Verhaeghe’s point of view is indispensable in today’s societal debate.
    De Standaard

    A feeling of discontent is part of our humanity. Despite prosperity on all fronts, the unrest in our society is increasing. In this book, Paul Verhaeghe shows that every era has its own sense of discontent, with its typical problems – such as burn-outs, imposter syndrome and fear of being excluded. 

  • Cover Sacrifice
    Cover Sacrifice
    Sacrifice
    A real treat. ****
    Vrij Nederland

    In an ancient forest, a ranger finds the body of a young woman lying naked on a tree stump, abused and strangled. The scene of the crime conjures up sinister memories of a cold case from several years ago. The investigation focuses on Suxy, an isolated village in the middle of the forest, inhabited mainly by elderly people and by eccentrics who are trying to build new lives. Sara Cavani of Interpol asks her friend Alex Berger, a rather unusual private detective, to help investigate the gruesome murders.

  • Cover She.
    Cover She.
    She.
    A strong, pure and pared-down debut.
    the low countries

    Thirty-nine-year-old actress Ada presents a theatrical monologue that she has written, in the city where she completed her theatre training years before. It is also the place where her former drama teacher, who she had a relationship with as a student, lives. In Maaike Neuville's semi-autobiographical debut, a woman dares to speak out and honestly investigates where her own boundaries and those of others lie, whilst considering what responsibility comes with a position of power. 

  • Cover The Rightful Finder
    Cover The Rightful Finder
    The Rightful Finder
    If this doesn’t get you to read, you might as well give up.
    De Morgen

    Unpopular eleven-year-old Jimmy's luck changes when a new boy arrives in the class. Tristan Ibrahimi is a refugee from Kosovo and Jimmy throws himself into the coaching of his new friend. When the Ibrahimi family receives a deportation letter, Tristan thinks up a plan in which Jimmy will play a crucial role. Born storyteller Lize Spit unfolds the plot of this topical and moving novella in an extremely exciting way. 

  • Cover - Incomplete
    Cover - Incomplete
    Incomplete
    It’s as if you’ve picked up a book by Patrick Modiano.
    Doorbraak

    ‘Incomplete’ is an intimate novel about the stories we tell. Those we use to build our identities, those about origins and kinship; truth and lies; and hope and disappointment. Like a Flemish Graham Swift, travelling back and forth between sympathetic melancholy and empathetic humour, Bogaert writes about loss and longing and succeeds in making his characters into real people - vulnerable, but at the same time strong enough to withstand some friction. 

  • Cover - Margriete
    Cover - Margriete
    Margriete
    As if Vereecken is writing with a brush in her hand, so precise, apposite and original.
    Literair Nederland

    Jan and Hubrecht van Eyck are world famous, but few people know that they also had a sister who painted. In this novel, Margriete van Eyck is given  the spotlight that she deserves. Vereecken reconstructs the life she might have led and brings to life the story behind 'The Ghent Altarpiece', one of the world’s most iconic paintings.

  • Overal zit mens
    Overal zit mens
    Man is Everywhere. A Murder Fantasy
    One of the increasingly rare writers who still shamelessly regards literature as an artform
    DE STANDAARD ****

    Kasper Kind is a solitary bioengineer who has been placed in charge of a small stretch of woodland that is suffering at the hands of climate change. He is on the point of committing a murder on the public figure Max de Man: a man among men, an intellectual fraud, a moralistic drip. Humour, social criticism, and rich language are ingeniously brought together by Yves Petry in this compelling monologue, with its unforgettable denouement.

  • The smells of the cathedral
    The smells of the cathedral
    The Smells of the Cathedral
    Sublime
    De Standaard

    ‘The Smells of the Cathedral’ by art historian Wendy Wauters takes us to one of the hotspots of the sixteenth century: the Church of Our Lady, Antwerp’s ‘cathedral’ ever since 1559. This majestic building was the beating heart of the city, where intensely religious parishioners crossed paths with dogcatchers, pilgrims, and livestock dealers. Religious serenity was sometimes hard to find inside.

  • Art for the Reich
    Art for the Reich
    Art for the Reich
    A wonderful example of art history research of the highest order.
    KUNSTTIJDSCHRIFT VLAANDEREN

    After eight years of research, Geert Sels has put together the puzzle pieces that he found in archives in Paris, The Hague, Koblenz, and the major Belgian cities. Through persistent detective work, he has discovered how the art was taken. He concludes that collectors, dealers, and auction houses showed little restraint in going along with the Nazis' plan to acquire the art. 

  • The Encyclopeadia of the Fall
    The Encyclopeadia of the Fall
    The Encyclopaedias of the Fall
    What kind of book is ‘The Encyclopaedia of the Fall’? A case apart, certainly.
    De Tijd

    No one can escape gravity. Planet earth is governed by laws which drag us down, ultimately into the grave. Desires meet with an equally inauspicious end. In the Bible, hunger for knowledge leads to the Fall, while Icarus’s urge to fly plunges him into the sea. In this brimful book, farce and tragedy alternate at great speed.

  • Shifts
    Shifts
    Displacements
    Erudite, adventurous, and lucid reflections on climate, democracy, identity, and more.
    De Morgen

    If there is one line that’s been reverberating in Stefan Hertmans’ mind for years, it’s a well-known quote from Victor Klemperer, which was written with a steady hand in his famous journals during the Nazi period, amid terror and uncertainty: ‘The contemporary witness knows nothing.’