English

Minke Douwesz (1962) is a Dutch writer, who has published two novels and a handful of stories. Her first novel Strikt (Engl. Tight), published in 2003, is about a female psychiatrist who falls in love with a redhaired female musician who has no experience sofar with homosexual love. The book tells you how both women get to know each other better despite their differences and fears. It also gives a view of the daily work of a psychiatrist. 

The novel was reviewed in all important Dutch papers, comments ranging from highly negative to immensely positive:
..."a peculiar, surprising book"(Brabants Dagblad)...

..."grip on the subject and structure are extraordinary" (Trouw)...

..."life is too short to work through hundreds of pages like this" (Parool)...

..."great sense of humor. Every interruption while reading is a disappointment" (Financieel Dagblad)

Strikt



 
                                                                                                          

 

 













Blurb (translation P. Moeyersoon)


Thirty-four-year-old Idske Wolters is a psychiatrist, an avid reader and a film enthusiast. Her smart shirts and always well-polished shoes reflect her punctilious, at times somewhat stiff character. She is loyal in her friendships, devoted to her patients and with the help of her analyst she gets more and more insight into who she is. Her well-ordered life experiences quite some tension when she meets cellist Judith Verster and falls madly in love with her.

There seems little chance of love blossoming between them. Judith, whose life style is a lot more unrestrained and chaotic, wants children, is looking for a man and doesn’t feel attracted to women. Idske herself erects certain barriers to their happiness: her longing to surrender collides with her need to maintain control over her life. That both of them can take another path, is something they’ll find out by trial and error.





The second novel Weg (Engl. Gone), published in 2009,  is about the end of the love affair between gynecologist Edith and her female friend Norma, who is engaged in animal activism . Norma refuses to leave their house and a trench war starts between the two. 
Weg was awarded twice with a literary prize: Opzij Literatuurprijs 2009 and Anna Bijns Prijs 2012.

Press reviews on Weg:

..."a stirring and fascinating psychological novel that was written so close to the skin that it leaves you behind like a wreck after reading" (Parool)...

"the used language is efficient, almost cold, at other places very precise and in a sense hypnotizing. You feel regret after finishing the last page: the cadans is gone, the spell is broken" (HP De Tijd)..

"I got up with it and went to bed with it" (Groene Amsterdammer)