Biography of a Fly

For readers of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse comes a beautifully illustrated philosophical book on the value of friendship and life, told from the perspective of a fly, and a gift book for all ages.

What if you were thrown into existence in the middle of your life, with numbered days left ahead of you? Would you see the world in the same way? In his inimitable style, Jaap Robben answers these questions through the unexpectedly witty lens of a fly, from the moment it enters the world as a larva right up to its deathbed. Watch this humble fly throw himself into life and his unlikely friendships with gusto, however short that life may be. Irresistibly charming, funny, and sprinkled with entomological details, this is a moving tale for any stage of life, about how we are all ultimately alone, and yet also together.

It is a perfect marriage of art and words, with Faasen's simple palette and combination of extreme close-ups and wide angles reflecting the specificity of the fly's life, and the big, existential themes that Robben's words convey. So winning and so full of heart. Riveting Reviews

Full of wonderful sentences and witty dialogue. Trouw

Irresistible. Het Parool

This small book is great fun. All human life, I mean dipteran life, is here; birth, sex, death, shit and a buzzard. It's quirky but also very informative. It will make you laugh but it will also make you think. It's a fly's lifeall 23 days of it. MARK AVERY, blogger

A little gem. Volkskrant Boekenraad

A special booklively, visual, humorous, and also confrontational. De Limburger

Sometimes it's the small fruits that give the connoisseur a true taste explosion. Biography of a Fly is such a morsel. A gem to cherish. Writer Jaap Robben and illustrator Paul Faassen manage to conjure up a fairy tale about the special friendship of a fly with a buzzard with impressive brevity. Born from the poo of a dachshund, we follow the brief 23-day-life of our fly in its entirety. Witty, moving and beautifully illustrated. Jury, Jan Wolkers Prize 2021

Praise for Summer Brother

It's an impressive novel: a deceptively simple story of lives at the margin, with a child's viewpoint perfectly pitched and sustained, it is cleanly written and powerfully imagined. It reminded me of Claire Keegan's novella Foster, which has a girl narrator of a similar age, and is an outstanding book. But the challenges are greater here, as Robben deals with all kinds of inflammable material, and does it with such tact and understanding. HILARY MANTEL

A wild and touching read. DORTHE NORS, Man Booker Internationalnominated author

Dutch author Jaap Robben's second novel shows us the shedding of innocence. Summer Brother, translated by David Doherty, shakes out over a hot summer, during that potent lull when characters so splendidly boil, burst and bloom. Summer Brother grapples with the consequences of carelessness and the abuse of power and trust, even if the violation is unintentional. Robben is wonderful at drawing characters with just a few deliberate strokes. Like a photographer shooting a portrait, he captures his subjects in Summer Brother in a focused close-up. New York Times

A deeply humane novel centered on a disabled man, his heroic younger brother and an unreliable, partly criminal father living on an all but derelict site. The book is generous to all its flawed characters, is beautifully written, and humanizes lives of abject poverty on the edge of squalor and disaster. International Booker Prize, jury report

The central premise of Summer Brother, Jaap Robben's evocative coming-of-age novel, longlisted for the International Booker Prize, is that love can thrive in the unlikeliest of places. It is easy to forget this is a work in translation, so deft is David Doherty's rendition. Robben depicts the limitations of a dysfunctional family but also celebrates empathy as a force for good. The Observer

A sensitive yet unsentimental depiction of poverty and disability from the perspective of an abled character. Kirkus Reviews

The book's language is precise and forthright, as Brian observes, and portrays in stark terms, the intense, awkward, and lovely actions of those around him. Sharp exchanges reveal characters who are witty and earnest in equal measure. Summer Brother is a harrowing novel about dysfunctional family dynamics and the universal awkwardness of being a teenager. Foreword Reviews

A tragic tale of generational dysfunction." Publishers Weekly

Summer Brother is a work of rare intricacy that warrants to be read with all the seriousness one can muster. World Literature Today

A warm, complex and luminous novel on these profound moments of ambiguity, and on the small, crucial acts of love. RUTH MCKEE, Irish Times

The short chapters and strong dialoguemasterfully recreated in David Doherty's pitch-perfect translation, which carefully captures and conveys the rough-and-ready characters and their volatile emotionsmake Summer Brother a fast-paced read as it explores the tensions in a family living with a child with disabilities. European Literature Network

Refined and subtle, and at the same time one of the most striking voices in contemporary Dutch literature. LIZE SPIT, author of The Melting

A writer who crosses the ball with such elegance that there's no need to hammer it home. De Volkskrant

Subtle and refined. NRC Handelsblad

Robben's style is deceptively simple. You don't have to be an adult to read Summer Brother, yet Robben's imagery, subtle humor, and surprising plot will connect with the most literate of readers. The novel offers a moving insight into a boyhood that gives pause for reflection. De Standaard

Like no other writer, Robben can empathize with the mind of a child and he imbues the reader with this open and uninhibited outlook as the story unfolds. Hebban

Summer Brother is a wry and funny book about a damaged family. Algemeen Dagblad

Lovingly, Robben shows Brian's hapless attempts to deal with pills and full diapers, yet all the while he is working mercilessly towards the inevitable climax. VPRO Gids

A poignant story about loyalty, disloyalty, solidarity, and puberty. De Limburger

A truly gutsy novel. Tzum

Summer Brother is a beautiful, modest novel. As he did with You Have Me to Love, Robben will once again win over a young generation of readers with this book. That in itself is praiseworthy. Elsevier

Jaap Robben has once again written an overwhelming book. HMC Dagbladen

His first novel, You Have Me to Love, was well-received, won prizes, and became a sales success. Summer Brother is a worthy successor and has all the ingredients to follow the same path. Robben knows how to write simply and magnificentlyI kept underlining beautiful sentences in the first chapters. Trouw

Praise for You Have Me to Love

You Have Me to Love is an intense and dramatic novel filled with meticulous use of detail and a forensic psychological accuracy. Its power comes from the fierce energy of the narrative structure, the way of handling silence and pain, and the ability to confront the darkest areas of experience with clear-eyed sympathy and care. Jaap Robben handles delicate, dangerous material with subtlety and sympathy, but also with a visionary sense of truth that is masterly and unforgettable. COLM TÓIBÍN

I was completely seduced by this novelit's raw and harrowing and very moving. Robben is a very powerful writer who reminds me very much of Per Petterson. AIFRIC CAMPBELL

Beautiful, just beautiful. GERBRAND BAKKER

This is a bold, tender and ambivalent narrative, raw and disturbing, with moments of painful beauty; a taut narrative heavy with a convincing sense of dread. Irish Times

You Have Me to Love…