Please note: this event has already happened!
An Afternoon with Barbara Gayle Austin - author of What You Made Me Do
October 4, 2024 17:00-18:30
ABC Amsterdam, Spui 12 1012XA
With fall around the corner, it is time for books that make you shiver despite a hot tea and a cozy blanket. What You Made Me Do is just that: a suspenseful and unsettling read of family drama in which tensions ramps up until the very end. Join us on this October afternoon for the conversation between Barbara Gayle Austin and moderator Evelyn Austin, ask your questions to the author and obtain a freshly signed copy at the end of the event!
About the book
After surviving a nightmarish childhood, Anneliese Bakker is on the mend and searching for her birth mother. But when she meets Willem, she falls madly in love and finally finds a safe place to land. Engaged and expecting her first child, she moves into the Veldkamp mansion on a stately, tree-lined avenue in Amsterdam. And yet, nothing about Willem’s family is as it seems. Instead of the loving home she has longed for her entire life, she’s confronted with a cold and hostile household. Increasingly isolated, Anneliese is drawn to a creepy basement shrine to Louisa, Willem’s mother. Louisa Veldkamp was a legendary Dutch pianist who presumably drowned–but whose body has never been found. Though still revered by her fans, Louisa is a taboo subject in the family home. Haunted by her own demons, Anneliese must dig into the family’s past to untangle a dark web of secrets, inadvertently putting herself and her unborn child in grave danger. Not knowing who to trust, Anneliese has to decide just how far she is willing to go to safeguard the family life she so desperately seeks.
About the author
Barbara Gayle Austin writes crime fiction. She grew up in Houston, Texas, but has spent most of her adult life in the Netherlands and the UK. She now lives in Amsterdam with her two children and her dog.
What You Made Me Do is Austin's debut novel and was longlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger award. Her short stories have been longlisted in the Margery Allingham short mystery competition and in the Aestas competition. She has been active in several critique groups in Amsterdam since 2008.
About the moderator
Evelyn Austin has a master's degree in literary studies but has worked at the cross section of technology and culture for the past 15 years. She co-founded The Hmm, an experimental platform for internet cultures and is currently the Executive Director of the digital rights NGO Bits of Freedom.