Joséphine
In assisted living complex Den Groenen Hof, a select company meets regularly in the utmost secrecy: the Thanatos Club. The elderly members have just one wish: to determine how they end their lives and die with dignity. With a deadly recipe book to hand, members tend an illicit poison garden that produces the necessary ingredients for when the time is ripe.
When the avaricious director of the complex announces new building plans, the future of the poison garden is suddenly thrown into doubt. The prospect of a dignified end is jeopardized, something that resolute Joséphine and the other members of the Thanatos Club simply cannot allow to happen. In their attempts to thwart the building of the new wing, they don’t fight shy of even the most extreme measures.
‘Joséphine’ is an indispensable manual for anyone who wants to grow old gracefully. Or not.Jury of the Hercule Poirot Prize
‘Joséphine’ is a crime novel as comical as it is tragic. With lashings of humour, Van Neer depicts combative senior citizens who want to keep control over how their lives end. Through tragicomic events and a relentless game with clichés, the author addresses weighty social issues like euthanasia and human dignity. This winner of the 2022 Hercule Poirot Prize asks critical questions about the way in which we as a society neglect the self-esteem of the elderly people among us.
This thoroughly original story often makes you smile and sometimes snigger, but the undertone is serious.Het Nieuwsblad
With this her fourth thriller, Anne-Laure Van Neer continues to produce writing of a consistently high quality.Knack
