Skip to main content
Powerful psychological novel about three sisters growing up without a mother

Hair

Kathleen Vereecken

On their way home from a holiday on the Costa Brava, Suzanne, Catherine and Hanna watch as their mother is mowed down by lorry on the shoulder of a French motorway. From now on, father Ivo will do his best to raise their three daughters, but without great success. The three girls have difficulty establishing meaningful human contact.

At times fairytale-ish and at other times bitterly realistic, Vereecken offers a glimpse of our ‘condition humaine’ ****
Knack Focus

In ‘Hair’ the three sisters reminisce and take stock of their lives. What is left of their passionate childhood dreams and their youthful desires? How have the years of tension between sisterly affection and sibling rivalry coloured their view of one another, and of the world? And why does shame stick to each of them, like a second skin? Their father, meanwhile, is on his deathbed. His life takes place only in his mind. Ivo has let go of his shame, and with it his guilty conscience. He reflects on his daughters, on his wife and her untimely death, and on the secret that torments him.

‘Hair’ deals with the major issues surrounding love and betrayal. And the minor ones as well, such as: why are women so fond of ritualistically ushering out their youth? And why do they cut their hair short?

Beautiful in its simplicity, honesty and humanity
De Leesfabriek