Julia is a young, talented art restorer hired to prepare a 1471 masterpiece by Flemish artist Pieter Van Huys, titled The Chess Game, for a high-profile auction. The painting depicts the Duke of Flanders and a knight locked in a game of chess while a mysterious woman reads a book in the background. Whilst X-raying […]

Anton Chekhov (Anton Chekhov – Melikhovo, Plays, Short Stories | Britannica) offers psychological precision, and atmosphere in his stories. These are slices of life where little happens externally, but much changes internally. His minimalist, impressionistic prose captures the tragicomedy of human existence with clinical objectivity and profound empathy. Included are Chekhov’s characteristically brief, evocative early

Georges Simenon (The New York Times: Book Review Search Article) was a prolific Belgian born writer, publishing 400 books. He is best known as the creator of fictional detective Jules Maigret. The Widow Couderc is one of Simenon’s ‘romans durs’, his more literary output. It follows Jean, a quiet, rootless ex-convict who has recently finished

This book is narrated by Freddie Montgomery, a 38-year-old brilliant but deeply amoral and narcissistic scientist. After drifting through Europe, Freddie returns to Ireland to raise cash because his wife and child are being held hostage by a Mediterranean gangster over a debt. When his mother reveals she has sold off the family’s art collection

This Dutch language novel is an epic, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel published in 1983. It follows Louis Seynaeve, a young Flemish boy growing up during the Nazi occupation of Belgium during World War II. It presents a dark, complex portrait of collaboration, family dysfunction, and loss of innocence. The first half tracks Louis chronologically in a