Pim Wiersinga, a bi-lingual novelist based in the Netherlands, launched his writing career with two novels nominated for a prestigious prize in his home country. His debut, Honingvogels (1992, ‘Honeybirds’) is situated in Antwerp in the 1920’s; a sudden reunion with a long-lost friend hurls the narrator into the unknown. This debut was followed by an epic novel set in Antiquity, Gracchanten (1995, ‘Gracchae’), featuring the revolt of the Gracchi brothers as seen through the eyes of a highly un-Roman character, Skamander, a tragic actor and heir to the last Macedonian rebel to resist the rising supremacy of Rome.
Inspired by the likes of Victor Segalen (René Leys) and Cao Xueqin (The Dream of the Red Chamber), The Pavilion of Forgotten Concubines, was released by Regal House Publishing (USA) in February of 2017. The Dutch version was featured in the 2014 Top 20 of Dutch and Flemish fiction. Says reviewer Ezra de Haan: “This novel is a marvel of ingenuity. Not only did Wiersinga succeed in breathing life into an Imperial China long gone, he’s also in total command of the fine art of corresponding.”
Pim Wiersinga has recently completed Eleonora’s Apprentice, a tale of epic proportions set in the heyday of the troubadour era (1190’s). Set amidst Vierzon marshlands, forbidding dungeons along the wintry Danube, and surrounded by the rolling hills of Aquitaine, Narbonne and Navarre, the novel explores and scrutinizes the origins of romantic love and implicit adultery. One Dutch reviewer called Eleonora, Queen of Love book ‘the ideal novel for long, cold winters; its sweltering scenes and sheer length will surely keep the reader warm.’
Wiersinga has recently embarked upon his next novel, Zena’s Arena, a tragicomic tale set in Alexandria during the final years of Antiquity. Like Flaubert, he believes the novelist’s craft to be of an androgynous nature, and he writes in a classic tradition – with lyrical overtones entirely his own.
Regal House Publishing published Pim Wiersinga’s novel The Pavilion of Forgotten Concubines in 2017.
