THE WHOLE NINE YARDS

Each generation its own war
original title Met huid en haar - rights Querido
232 pp. - age 15+ - 3.000 copies sold
sample translation available
prizes Silver Kiss 2005, Children's and Youth Jury Prize 2006
foreign rights sold to Le Rouergue (France) and Patmos (Germany)
web http://users.pandora.be/marita.de.sterck

While his parents are on holiday for a week in Barcelona, Joppe and a few of his fellow nursing students organise a mass demonstration against the war in Iraq. In the meantime, he tries to win the heart of the intriguing but independent Alya, but his sick great grandfather Tist throws a spanner in the works. While Joppe chants anti-war slogans, Tist relives his own war.

De Sterck accurately describes the anxieties of Tist, which started one night during the war when he was supposed to keep vigil by his little sister’s deathbed but fell asleep instead. The disintegration of his family that followed drives him into the war instead of away from it. Tist’s wartime trauma results in a lasting fear of abandonment and he decides that it makes no sense to love people when you know you must ultimately give them up. Only after the arrival of Sien and her daughter Mie does the surly war veteran begin to change, although his stubbornness will plague him for the rest of his life. A growing awareness that his days are coming to an end makes Tist gentler, more approachable, and ready to reveal old secrets.

‘Written in a compelling, gripping and enchanting poetic language, slowly releasing its compact dramatic tension, engulfed in secrets.’ – Dutch Library Service

‘A gripping and plausible book, which excites, moves and compels the reader to think in a manner that goes beyond Marita De Sterck’s earlier novels.’ – De Morgen

“Tist plodded through the muddy trenches. Men barked orders at him in a language he didn’t understand. Boys dropped in the mud on all sides because they had no idea what they were being ordered to do.

One day four boys fell on top of Tist. He felt the bullets driving into their bodies. He knew that it was their flesh that saved his life. Hours later, when he tried to push them off, he saw that two of them were still alive, one with less than half a face, the other with a bullet in his thigh.

Each had a request for Tist. Tist said yes twice. He helped one to die and the other to continue living.”

Marita de Sterck’s most recent book Bad Blood (Kwaad Bloed, Querido,159 pp., age 12+, Book Lion 2007, Silver Kiss 2007) presents a unique sketch of a Flemish boarding school immediately after World War II and offers the reader a finely written description of what it was like to grow into womanhood in grandmother’s day.

VROEM, VROEM... BOEM/ZOOM, ZOOM... BOOM (1999)
Text: Marita de Sterck.
Illustrations: Ingrid Godon.

Maya is always bumping into things on her trike, accidentally on purpose. She’s a hazard in the home from the crack of dawn until late at night. Will her crashes and falls never end? Her parents are at their wit’s end... (2 years and up)
A recognisable picture book for reading out loud. Perfect for energetic pre-schoolers and for adults who share their lives with a hectic, nice-and-wild child... or remember being one themselves.

SPLINTERS (1998)
A moving story of first love.
Jutta stumbled when she saw Anton for the first time.
She tripped over her own two feet.
As if her legs suddenly belonged to someone else.
And Anton falls under Jutta’s spell. He can’t get his mind off that strange, awkward girl.
"Be careful," people whisper. "She’s trouble."
But from that very first day there’s no turning back. Not for Jutta. And not for Anton.
They are swept up by a love that leaves them no choice.
A fully-fledged passion. A difficult love in which the past keeps on popping up, in which all escape routes are cut off, in which there are more questions than answers.
Can you love without getting wounded by the splinters?
Is love ever the same, for him, for her?
If you’ve tasted it once, can you ever do without? (13 years and up)

WILD VLEES/SCAR TISSUE (2000)
Max comes home from a hiking trip to hear that his grandfather has had a fatal accident. The news is too much for him. After all, he has more or less grown up with his grandfather. In search of someone to blame, he begins investigating every detail of his grandfather’s accident, no matter how grisly. This is his way of coping with his sorrow, his way of exorcising his grief. Max scarcely notices how hurtful his aspersions are for all those involved: the young truck driver, the police officers, the hospital staff and the undertaker. Max knows no mercy, not even for his parents or Linde, his girlfriend.
It’s only when all the stories have been told and the wounds have healed over, that Max is able to finally let go and get on with his life. 
The sudden death of someone you’re close to can upset your whole life. Marita de Sterck describes this experience. The story is about coming to terms with loss, but also about the best cure: love. Like Splinters, this challenging book raises pressing questions about love and death. (15 years and up)

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You can contact Marita de Sterck for a workshop on the following subject:
Listening to initiation stories; how ritual storytelling can promote change and renewal in individuals and groups.