His Name is David
Flanders, 1915.
David Verbocht, sentenced to death as a deserter, stands before the firing squad and looks back on his short life. As a young man, David was sent away by his parents, after a tragic accident in the family, to become a school teacher in a remote village. There he develops a special bond with a sensitive young student, along with feelings for the boy's mother. When fate strikes again, the history of loss and guilt seems to repeat itself.
'A tale of forbidden love set in WWI Flanders' — The Guardian
'For a relatively young writer, Vantoortelboom strikes a powerfully emotive chord' — Irish Examiner
'A book that leaves a deep impression. From the first page on, it has you in its grip.' — Book of the Month, DWDD Booksellers Panel
'His Name is David crawls deep under your skin and nestles there' — Humo
JAN VANTOORTELBOOM, originally a teacher, grew up in Elverdinge, a small village in Belgium. He studied English literature in Gent and at the University of Dublin. In 2011 he debuted with the prize-winning novel De verzonken jongen (‘The Sunken Boy’), a coming-of-age tale about a family riddled with mysteries set against the backdrop of World War I. His second novel, His Name Is David, surpassed the success of his debut and cemented his position in Dutch literature. It was chosen as Book of the Month by the influential Dutch talk show DWDD, and has sold 30,000 copies in the Netherlands and Belgium.
VIVIEN D. GLASS is a literary translator from Dutch and German to English based in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. She was born in Switzerland to Irish and Swiss parents and moved to the Netherlands in 1995, where she completed a Bachelor’s degree at the ITV University of Applied Sciences for Translation and Interpreting. Her published translations include works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s verse, and more.
