Arthur Japin
Arthur Japin (b. 1956) has written for the stage as well as for radio, film and television. His breakthrough came in 1997 with the novel 'De zwarte met het witte hart' (The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi), which sold over 150,000 copies and was awarded several prizes.
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Een schitterend gebrek (In Lucia’s Eyes, 2003) won him the Libris Literature Prize in 2004. His other great historical novels – Someone Found and Vaslav – were also worldwide successes. His books have sold more than one and a half million copies in the Netherlands alone and have been published in more than twenty languages. What Silence Wants (2022) has been on the Dutch bestseller list since its publication and has so far sold over 55,000 copies.
More Arthur Japin
In Lucia’s Eyes
Arthur Japin found his inspiration for In 'Lucia’s Eyes' in an episode in the life of Giacomo Casanova, philanderer and bon vivant. In his memoirs Casanova tells of being invited to the country estate of Pasiano as a sixteen-year-old and falling hopelessly in love with the breathtaking Lucia, two years his junior. She has only one splendid flaw: ‘She is too young.’ Because of Lucia’s genuine innocence he does not bed her, promising instead to return in six months to ask for her hand in marriage.
What Silence Wants
After 'Kolya', about the composer Tchaikovsky, and 'Mrs Degas', Arthur Japin once again takes his readers back to the nineteenth century. What Silence Wants is a paean to Anna Witsen, a singer torn between her art and the mores of her time. ‘The story of a woman. How she went in search of her voice, was forced into silence, but in the end made herself heard.’