Pieter Waterdrinker
Pieter Waterdrinker (b. 1961) lives by turns in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. He has unparalleled knowledge of modern Russia, and his habitat always plays a principal role in his work. In 1998, he made his debut with the novel 'Danslessen' (Dancing Lessons) which received immediate acclaim.
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This was followed by the novels Liebmans ring and Een Hollandse romance (A Dutch Romance) and the collection of short stories entitled Montagne Russe. His major breakthrough came with the novel Duitse bruiloft (The German Wedding) which was translated into English, German and Russian, and was nominated for the Gerard Walschap Prize and will be made into a movie. The international film rights were also recently sold. His penultimate novel De dood van Mila Burger (The Death of Mila Burger) is being adapted as a Russian opera.
More Pieter Waterdrinker
The Rat of Amsterdam
Pieter Waterdrinker’s panoramic new book is a hellish indictment of the charity industry, the fraudulent use of EU funds, and shysters who pay gratuitous lip service to altruism but are really just looking to line their own pockets.
A Dutch Romance
A 'Dutch Romance' takes place mainly in fashionable Moscow today, despite its title. Waterdrinker writes about Joost Schlingemann, a successful businessman in his thirties, but a manic-depressive, a man in a crisis. The story starts when Joost is left by his wife Suzette, at the very moment that he has attained the success that she has always expected of him. He has become a highly paid consultant with a company advising Russian firms about new products. Joost and Suzette live in Moscow with their son Max; they have a lovely dacha, a nanny, and a car with chauffeur. Nevertheless Suzette takes a dislike to Russia and returns to Holland with Max, precipitating Joost’s crisis. He leaves his job, moves to a dreary apartment, and throws himself into pointless nightlife.
Lenin’s balsem
'Lenin’s Balsam' describes a young man’s animated search for a mysterious cream. The story takes place in Russia in the period immediately following the Cold War when fortune hunters and profiteers made their move.
The Death of Mila Burger
Already in the Prologue to 'De dood van Mila Burger' (The Death of Mila Burger), the author has told us that calamity is always lurking in the wings and strikes when one is not expecting it. When Mila is still a child, her grandfather is ground to death in a centrifuge when a drunken colleague turns the wrong handle. Mila grows up with her grandmother in the Russian city of Kazan in the latter years of the Soviet era. After a dreary university period, she meets Dutchman Nico Burger and decides to follow him to his homeland.