A Heart of Stone [Hardcover]

Renate Dorrestein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2001

Renate Dorrestein is that rare storyteller who dazzles critics and captivates readers. Provocative, stylish, and emotionally resonant, A Heart of Stone (her first book to be translated into English) is certain to cause a sensation on the international scene and Viking is proud to introduce her to the American public.

This beautifully woven masterpiece, spare yet richly told, plumbs the undercurrents of family life and tragedy in a startling and wise story of love, fate, and survival. Ellen Van Bemmel lives with her parents, who run an American news-clipping service, and her three siblings in an old Dutch house in a suburb of Amsterdam. Ellen's idyllic childhood is suffused with Americana, both the frivolous fringes like potato chips and Coca-Cola as well as milestones like Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon, until family disaster strikes on her twelfth birthday. From that moment on her world begins to unravel. Years later, Ellen plunges us into the past as she leafs through a faded photo album and confronts the literal and figurative ghosts of her childhood. Seamlessly alternating the past and present, taut with Hitchcockian tension and warmed by a redemptive love story, A Heart of Stone tells a darkly humorous, yet ultimately compassionate tale.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dorrestein's first novel to be translated into English is a riveting psychological thriller that rates comparison with Shirley Jackson's classic, We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Like Jackson, Dorrestein excels at describing how an eccentric familyDin this case, the van Bemmels of The HagueDis tormented and finally destroyed by the growing madness of one of its members. Frits van Bemmel and his wife, Margje, have four children and a large house, in which they also run a news-clipping service. Their existence seems idyllic, until a fifth child, Ida, is born, and Margje begins acting strangely. She talks back to a divine figure, who urges her to attack her children. Ida suffers from mysterious, recurrent injuries, and the children's father refuses to see the obvious. Narrator Ellen, the third child, is a sharp, book-smart 13-year-old, who realizes something is wrong, but can do nothing but fly into hysterical rages. Twenty-five years later, Ellen finds herself back in her childhood home, alone, separated from her husband and expecting a baby. Huddled in the basement, she pages through a family picture album and forces herself to think back on the inexorable, mad decline of the household and the day when "life blew up in our faces like a time bomb." Dorrestein's exquisitely calibrated narrative becomes mesmerizing as Ellen struggles to comprehend how one day her whole family could just be wiped out and how she could have survived. (Jan.) Forecast: Several years ago, another unorthodox Dutch thriller was made into the well-received film The Vanishing; A Heart of Stone is a natural for Hollywood's attention, too. In any case, the book, a BOMC alternate, should win DorresteinDwho will embark on a six-city author tour hereDname recognition in the English-speaking world.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Dorrenstein's novel begins gently, with a simple, fond childhood memory in which Ellen and her sister and two brothers await the birth of the family's fifth child. The story is told in flashbacks by a thirtysomething pregnant Ellen, who gradually reveals more sinister goings on. When their new baby sister falls ill, their mother, Marje, begins to worry constantly about her, even after she recovers. As Ellen and her siblings watch helplessly, their mother becomes more and more unhinged, to the point that she fears her baby is possessed by the devil. Their father, Frits, loves his wife to the point of distraction and doesn't know how to halt her downward spiral. Marje's decent into madness leads to a tragedy that forever changes the course of Ellen's life. As the details of the tragedy are slowly disclosed, the reasons for the adult Ellen's aloofness become clear. Ellen must ultimately come to terms with her past before it consumes her present. This Dutch best-seller, Dorrenstein's first to be translated into English, is chilling, gripping, and unforgettable. An impressive introduction that will leave readers hungry for more. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1ST edition (January 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067089558X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670895588
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I had to miss work to read this book., January 24, 2001

By 

Anna Frank - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Heart of Stone (Hardcover)

I bought this book on a whim, and was absolutely gripped by it. Could NOT put it down. Had to miss a whole day at work. And it was absolutely worth it.

The gripping tragedy Ellen struggles with is never forced upon the reader, it is never obvious, and best of all, there is not a trace of sappyness in this book.

Even though the story is certainly not ordinary, I was suprised by how closely I could se elements of myself and my family in this book. The author made me care for all the characters, and I was able to identify with Ellen, the narrator.

Just a beautiful book. So well written. I cannot remember the last time I have read such a seamless book. Renate Dorrestein slips so effortlessly between the past and the present, in such an intimate way, that I felt she was sitting right next to me, relating her extraordinary tale. And I did not want her to stop, even not when it was time to go to work.

Do yourself a favor. Shell out the money and buy the book. You will not regret it.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books of the year, May 31, 2002

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Heart of Stone (Paperback)

A HEART OF STONE - By Renate Dorrestein

Of all the novels I've read this year, this one I feel the most strongly about. As I read the book, I pictured it in my mind, as if I was watching a black and white film. The story is told in flashbacks, going from one time period to another. The flashes are brief. We'll get a scene here, another scene there. And through this technique, we slowly learn the story of Ellen Van Bemmel, and her memories of a family that appeared happy to the rest of the world, but in reality was full of turmoil and unhappiness.

Ellen had many happy memories of her father, sitting on his lap and laying her head on his chest, feeling safe. No one could hurt her when she was with Daddy. He had promised her. And she loved her mother. Her parents seemed so in love, at least from what she remembered. Her beautiful sister Billie (Sybille), her brothers Kester and little Carlos (Ellen's name for her brother) - they shared happy times, all those years ago. But a tragedy happens on her 12th birthday - it was such a horrible day, that Ellen has blocked most of it from her memory. It takes her decades to realize what really happened all those years ago. It takes her that long to come to terms with her past.

I highly recommend A Heart of Stone. The book held my attention the way a good mystery would. With details revealed in bits and pieces, I found myself wanting to spend all my time reading this book until I reached the end. A warning - this book is not for the faint of heart.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking, February 5, 2001

By 

demimonde (Windsor, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Heart of Stone (Hardcover)

This was not an easy book to read. The heartwrenching story of what happens to a family of seven whose mother is experiencing an extreme case of post-partum depression left me speechless and emotionally drained. Dorrestein does a fantastic job of drawing the reader into the daily lives of the Van Bemmel family. She tells their story matter-of-factly and without a trace of sentimentality but is still able to create powerfully moving and stunning tale. I do recommend Heart of Stone but with the small warning that your own heart may well break.