My newest solo audiobook project is in English again, although it was written by a Dutchman.

Maarten Maartens was born in Amsterdam, but lived in London from age 6 till 12, and wrote all of his prose in English, to reach a larger audience. God’s fool, written in 1892, is his best known novel, and quite a bestseller when it appeared. Like most of his works, it is set in a fictitious city in the Netherlands. Maartens adds a lot of satirical comments to the narrative, and remarks directed straight to the reader, which gives a strange effect. Both the book and the writer are all but forgotten nowadays.

Listen to the book to get a taste of the circle of merchants and bureaucrats at the end of the 19th century – although I’m sure a murder was not a regular occurence…

About the book

At the age of nine, Elias Lossell becomes deaf and blind from an accident. Communication with him becomes difficult, and mentally, he never really grows up. Years later, circumstances make him the richest man in town as the heir of a wealthy firm of tea merchants, while his two younger twin half-brothers Hendrik and Hubert are left to do the actual work of management on his behalf. This causes a lot of resentment, especially with half-brother Hendrik, who loves money, and is also hampered by a headstrong, spendthrift wife. Hendrik tries to gain control of the firm and buy out Elias by any means, but things get out of hand.

The novel is set in the fictitious Dutch town of Koopstad (“Buying City”), where money, commercial success and social status are very important. It gives a satirical view of contemporary life at the end of the 19th century.

Crooks with names such as The Wolf, The Mole, Hunchback Joe, Slimmy Jack and Birdie Lee. An opium den run by Foo Sen and his Chinese assistants. A very wealthy young man who either just puts on a black silk mask, or a complete disguise as a disreputable, drug-addicted artist, to venture into the underworld of New York’s East Side – to find and help the woman he loves. (A woman, by the way, who isn’t all that helpless, who has a sharp mind of her own, and is even better at hiding in the underworld than he is.)

The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Frank L. Packard – new at Librivox

Talk about action-packed… No high standing literature, but good stuff to dive into on my autumn vacation. I finished it in 6 days! As well as finishing up the readings of 2 Dutch works, that I expect to come out in the next few days. I indulged myself. (And no, I did not spend the whole of my vacation in front of my computer).

In the previous book of adventures, we met Jimmie Dale, a wealthy playboy by day, who at night put on a disguise and became The Gray Seal, a daredevil entering businesses or homes and cracking safes, always leaving a diamond shaped, gray paper “seal” behind to mark his conquest. He never took anything, but just wanted the thrill of it. This had spun out of control when a mysterious woman, whom Jimmie Dale nicknames The Tocsin, caught him at it and blackmailed him into doing her bidding. On her instigation, he got involved in numerous underworld crimes, righting wrongs and protecting innocent bystanders. The Tocsin is herself in hiding from her enemies in the underworld, and the two of them barely escape with their lives when they are pursued by both the criminals and the police.

At the end of those previous adventures, Jimmie Dale thought he had left off his dealings with the underworld for good, and could settle down with the woman he loved. But now, The Tocsin has disappeared. Jimmie Dale is drawn back into the world of crime, crooks and opium dens to look for her, and The Gray Seal is resurrected.

Alweer een nieuwe Nederlandstalige solo klaar, in record-tijd (voor mij dan): deel 1 van ‘Klaasje Zevenster’. Het boek doet me een beetje aan denken aan „Great Expectations” van Charles Dickens. Het is nu eigenlijk vergeten, maar toen het verscheen was het een bestseller. Het creeërde ook een flink schandaal (altijd goed voor de verkoopcijfers), maar de reden daarvan is pas in deel 3 te vinden, dat hou ik nog even geheim*. Een paar jaar geleden was er een plan om er een TV serie van te maken als kostuum-drama, en dat kan ik me goed voorstellen; jammer dat dat niet is doorgegaan.
Hoewel het boek lekker weg leest, kan ik niet beloven dat ik elke maand een nieuw deel klaar heb, dus het kan nog wel even duren voor we aan het einde van de hele roman komen, na vijf delen met in totaal meer dan 1500 pagina’s… Dus nog maar niet beginnen met luisteren als je liever gelijk weet hoe het afloopt met Klaasje.

Een groepje Leidse studenten viert een gezellige Sinterklaasavond in de jaren ’20 van de 19e eeuw, als er onverwachts een pakketje aan de deur bezorgd wordt. Tot ieders grote verrassing vinden ze daarin een baby. Zij besluiten zich als groep over het meisje te ontfermen. Deze roman, een bestseller bij de verschijning in 1866, verhaalt over de lotgevallen van de vondeling.
Dit is deel 1 van in totaal 5 delen (de andere delen zijn nog niet beschikbaar op Librivox). Hierin leren we de studenten kennen, en Klaasje Zevenster als jong meisje. Als ze klaar is op haar kostschool komt ze bij één van haar ‚vaders’ logeren, Gerlof Bol, die inmiddels dominee is. Dat heeft verstrekkende gevolgen. (Samenvatting van Anna Simon)

* ‘ns Kijken wie zich kan inhouden, en het niet gelijk gaat googlen.