A Heart of Stone by Renate Dorrestein
A Heart of Stone is Renate Dorrestein's first book to be translated into English. It tells a darkly humorous, yet ultimately compassionate tale of her character, Ellen Van Bemmel, who plunges us into the past as she leafs through a faded photo album and confronts the literal and figurative ghosts of her childhood. The story seamlessly alternates between past and present, taut with Hitchcock tension and warmed by a redemptive love story.
Hester was awarded the the Vondel Prize for Translation for A Heart of Stone. She continues her critically acclaimed translation of the popular Dutch author Renate Dorrestein in A Crying Shame, a heartrendering story of the a hostile and troubling family life for two children who stow away in a stranger's automobile. The compelling emotional style of A Crying Shame is also found in Hester Velmans' previous translation of Dorrestein's Without Mercy, a heartbreaking yet strangely funny, thought-provoking, and compelling novel about guilt and grief.
