13 Round the Table

Family memoirs in the recent past are not uncommon but 13 Round the Table is quite different. In this book no less than eleven living siblings share memories from their youth in their own characteristic ways

The differences are almost greater than the similarities, which provides a fascinating range of reflections. This large Calvinistic rural family from the North part of The Netherlands, rises from the poverty of the 50s – when happiness was common - to prosperity. This book shows family solidarity but also tensions, rivalry, nostalgia, a deceased baby brother, humor and frustration, the struggle to be noticed within a large family, the inevitable ‘family matter,’ views on sexuality and religion and an overall atmosphere that all siblings – eldest to youngest, boys and girls – have experienced. There is special attention for the prominent place of the dominant father - who died in 1997 - whose influence and own ‘family matter’ affected the lives of the eleven siblings dramatically. Everyone has their very own memories of him. This is a book that will invoke the readers’ own memories.