Eva Kelder

Eva Kelder
An unparalleled story of the ruthless pursuit of ideals and the power of the past

Eva Kelder (1980) studied English and journalism. During her stay in the US she worked on a cross medial project In Search of Americans, which resulted in a book and several short movies for Dutch TV Network VPRO's program Holland Doc. In 2012 her first short story was published in literary magazine Passionate. Several publications and a radio column followed. The Quiet (Het leek stiller dan het was) was is Eva's debut novel a gorgeous Beautiful debut on finding your path in life, following a young woman from the isle of Vlieland to New York.She is currently working on a collection of short stories.

Books

On the coastal Dutch isle of Vlieland Seije lives with her single mother Fenna. She feels like an outsider in the small community, only her best friend Teun really understands her. They walk the dunes for hours, the briny air in their lungs, bare feet in the sand and as they grow up they drink too much and party till the sun comes up. Fenna seems to forget to raise her daughter.

After a dramatic event Seije leaves the island to study in Edinburgh. Her academic career and a new love take her to New York. But her ambition and her self-confidence don't seem to run parallel. Can she take control of the nagging feeling that she'll never do well enough now her world is expanding so rapidly?

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PRESS:

'The Quiet sketches an efficacious and touching story of a woman who gets tangled up in her past. Beautiful.' Margriet Magazine

'With The Quiet Eva Kelder (1980) has really put herself on the map as a literary talent.' Opzij Magazine

An unparalleled story of the ruthless pursuit of ideals and the power of the past

When the charismatic Blake Chesterfield invades the tumultuous Amsterdam of the late sixties, nothing will ever be the same again. He wants to make the world a better place- at all costs. It offers April an escape from her typical small-town Dutch existence. Blake's carries powerful appeal and he soon gathers a crowd of followers. If the commune devises an attack against "the face of capitalism," April is faced with a moral choice: which evil should be contested, the evil on the outside or the evil within?

Decades later, when an old acquaintance enters her carefully shielded life, April is confronted by an unwelcome memory. How do you come to terms with a past that was never completely yours?

A Charismatic Fault is an unparalleled novel about the illusion of freedom. Once again, Eva Kelder dissects human fragility with sharp-witted finesse.