AFTERLIGHT
“With its tight sentences and a fast pace, Afterlight moves like detective fiction. It’s a poignant novel in which a single, pregnant woman is mistreated in her conservative society; she remains resilient and determined to honor her baby’s memory.” —Foreword Reviews
The young free-spirited florist Frieda grew up in a strictly Catholic environment in the 1960s. When she steps onto a frozen river on a late winter afternoon, little does she know that everything is about to change for her. On the ice she meets the married Otto. They experience a love that begins stormy and ends fatefully: Frieda becomes pregnant –
“With its tight sentences and a fast pace, Afterlight moves like detective fiction. It’s a poignant novel in which a single, pregnant woman is mistreated in her conservative society; she remains resilient and determined to honor her baby’s memory.” —Foreword Reviews
The young free-spirited florist Frieda grew up in a strictly Catholic environment in the 1960s. When she steps onto a frozen river on a late winter afternoon, little does she know that everything is about to change for her. On the ice she meets the married Otto. They experience a love that begins stormy and ends fatefully: Frieda becomes pregnant – a scandal in the world in which she moves. And so she must never be the mother of her secret child. For decades she kept her memories of this episode in her life to herself. But the grief for the lost child remains, despite the later marriage, despite the son she still has. At the age of eighty-one, Frieda is suddenly alone again. The silent sorrow returns with force. Only then does she dare to face her story – and to share it.
With Afterlight, inspired by true events, Robben not only pulls back the veil on Frieda’s story, but also shines a light on the experiences of countless women between the 1950s and 1980s. The result is an impressive story about buried female trauma, caused by society, organized religion and the dominant social mores.
- World Editions
- Paperback
- May 2024
- 358 Pages
- 9781642861471
Buy the Book
$19.99
About Jaap Robben & David Doherty (Translator)
JAAP ROBBEN is a Dutch poet, playwright, performer, and acclaimed children’s author. You Have Me to Love, his first novel for adults, won the 2014 Dutch Booksellers Award, the Dioraphte Prize, and the ANV Award for best Dutch debut. Summer Brother, his second novel, was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2021. Afterlight is his third novel published by World Editions.
DAVID DOHERTY studied English and literary linguistics in Glasgow before moving to Amsterdam, where he has been working as a translator for over twenty years. His literary work includes novels by award-winning authors Marente de Moor, Peter Terrin and Alfred Birney. Summer Brother, his translation of Jaap Robben’s Zomervacht, won the 2021 Vondel Translation Prize and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize.
Praise
“Robben knows how to arouse emotion with his stories about outcasts.” —The Standard
“Robben once again shows himself to be a master of short, restrained sentences that keep sentimentality at bay. Afterlight is an impressive and delicate book about loss.” —Fidelity
“In Afterlight, Robben tells the difficult story of many women about a time that is not that far behind us. It produces a beautiful novel that offers compassion.” —Dagblad van het Noorden
“There is not a sentence that does not shine or is charged in Jaap Robben’s astonishing novel about lifelong suffering. Once you have read the impressive Afterlight, it is impossible to forget the story.” —Het Parool
“Robben gives voice to a deep-seated feminism in the form of his powerful protagonist. As a reader, you find yourself breathing a sigh of relief knowing that nowadays we live in a more just and equitable society — although a look back over your shoulder also doubles as a word of warning about the future.” —Humo
Discussion Questions
1. The publisher stated “Robben creates characters that touch his readers so deeply that they emerge a different person. When Frieda screams for her newborn baby in the hospital ward, I became her. Every mother, every human who has ever loved, will feel Frieda’s pain and never forget it.” Do you agree? Did you feel similarly?
2. We meet Frieda both as a young, naive girl and an old lady at the end of her life. How has Frieda’s character developed? Could you relate to Frieda? Which Frieda were you more drawn to?
3. How did you feel about the relationship between Frieda and her son Tobias?
4. Afterlight is inspired by the very real experience of many unwed Catholic mothers between the 1950s and the 1980s whose stillborn, unbaptized babies were taken away at birth and buried in secret. While set in the Netherlands, this experience was shared by many mothers around the world. Do you know of similar stories in your home country?
5. Jaap Robben says that the enormity of the grief and injustice inflicted on these mothers never left him. How do you think these mothers lived with such grief?
6. Frieda suffers the loss of her stillborn child in silence for decades. Many mothers with a similar fate chose to never speak about it. Do you understand the reasons behind the silence? Do you think that women today still often suffer in silence when it comes to topics such as pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, infertility, adoption, stillbirth? In which ways has the situation improved for women since the mid- to late nineties, in which ways has it stayed the same?
7. Jaap Robben writes about a mother’s grief, a very female experience, as a man. Do you think he captured it in the right way?
8. Does Frieda in her eighties remind you of your own (grand)parents, or elderly relatives, who have given you glimpses into their younger lives?