‘Maze of Mourning’, the English translation of Frieda Voorhorst’s ‘Doolhof van de rouw’, is now available. The translation from Dutch is made by Manette Schönfeld of PhiMa Taalwerk. The e-Book was already available. The paperback edition is published now.

In Maze of Mourning, Frieda Voorhorst describes the process of grieving after the death of her father. Her style is reflexive: in a detached way, she looks at her own emotions, thoughts and actions in retrospect. In this way, the book is contemplative without being weighty: it focusses on the dayly events in this period.

The strong ties in the Voorhorst family between Frieda, her mother, her two sisters and her two brothers provide for a safe and harmonious background.

Although the book concerns a sorrowful period, the writing stays light-footed. Sometimes the book is even outright humoristic.

For readers who have to live through a similar period, the book makes consolatory reading, not in the least becourse the fases of the mourning process are so thoughtfully described. In this way the book can also function as a lived example of existing theories on mourning and grieving.

‘This is my youngest daughter,’ that is how he always introduced me. Ahead of me came Janet, Anton and Adriana. I was not the youngest child, after me came another brother, Ernst.

After his cardiac infarct, early February 2013, he would never introduce me again. Without regaining consciousness, he would die one week later.

‘Now I am in mourning,’ I thought when I walked out of the hospital. I did not know how to mourn, but I really wanted to do it right. My own experiences did not agree with most of the theories I found. This changed when I found a theory on a maze. Mourning is like a maze, I read. Immediately I visualized that maze.

This is an account of my quest in the maze of mourning.