Winterijs

Illustrations for Winter Ice (Winterijs) by Peter Van Gestel (Samokat, 2013)

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1947 Postwar Amsterdam. Winter ice is not only on the streets of the city, but also in the lives of people striving to find at least some kind of balance. Ten-year-old Thomas lives with a dreamy father who constantly changes jobs and is unable to accept the death of the boy’s mother. And the son practically does not receive his attention. Everyone in the city has a similar story these days. Only friends and conversations keep them warm. Thomas’s friends are Pete Zvan, a quiet boy of the same age, whose parents perished as victims of the Holocaust, and the strict thirteen-year-old Beth Zvan, whom Thomas is in love with.