Sofi Oksanen

A BorderKitchen by the sea with Sofi Oksanen (Finland, 1977).

She achieved international breakthrough with her third novel Zuivering, which has now been published in more than 40 countries and sold over one million copies worldwide. Als de duiven verdwijnen (original title Kun kyyhkyset katosivat) is the long-awaited follow-up.

Estonia during the Second World War. The country is occupied by the Russians, and Roland and his cousin Edgar are resistance fighters, the so-called “forest brothers”. They hide in the forests or go into hiding with relatives. When the Russians are driven out by the Germans and Roland’s wife is murdered, the two cousins are driven apart. Edgar chooses the German side, while Roland remains in the underground resistance.

In the 1960s Edgar, now known as Comrade Parts, has built a career writing about the German occupation and exposing fascist Estonians. His research leads him to his former wife Juudit and his cousin, whose lives have taken very different turns from what he assumed.

Als de duiven verdwijnen is a literary and suspenseful novel about choices, loyalty and betrayal, set against the backdrop of events in 1940s and 1960s Estonia.

Read the first chapter here.

Als de duiven verdwijnen will be published on 5 September by Uitgeverij Anthos and is translated by Marja-Leena Hellings.

Date: Thursday 12 September
Location: Buena Vista Beach Club, Scheveningen (Strandweg 18)
Interview: in English by Arjan Peters (Volkskrant editor)
Start time: 8:00 PM
Tickets: €7.50, reservations via info@crossingborder.nl or 070-3462355

“Sofi Oksanen is a literary phenomenon.” – The Times