“I was locked up in the Old Spin House for more than six months”
Patricia Snel’s latest is a breathtaking novel about three orphans in the children’s colony of Veenhuizen. Karel and Lize end up in a harsh regime of discipline. Together with the newly befriended and already hardened Neeltje, they make a plan: escape. “The story found me and not the other way around. I’m just a conduit.”
1. How did you come across the story of Karel and Lize
“To escape the hustle and bustle of the city, I stay every other month near Veenhuizen, where a children’s colony was founded in the 19th century by the Maatschappij van Weldadigheid. During my walks I walk to the fourth asylum, a grassy field where thousands of orphans from the children’s colony are buried. Then I light a candle
for them at the weeping beech. Just like that. Two years ago I thought: now I really want to know everything about the colonies. During my research I came across the recorded story of Karel Muller, The Orphan of Amsterdam. He was sent to Veenhuizen with his sister Lize after his mother died of consumption and his father became insane. I was so moved and inspired and knew: I had to tell Karel’s story. And that ultimately became The Foundling of Veenhuizen.”
2. How do you proceed next?
“There’s an incredible amount of research and almost all the characters are based on people who existed. I bought all the books about the Benevolent Society and the colonies. I read endlessly about the subject, mused about it, did field research, dug into all kinds of archives and talked to historians. The more research I did, the more that hidden history came to life. My imagination did the rest, with Karel’s life as a starting point. I brought his story to life.”
3. What do you hope the reader takes away after reading this book?
“It’s a hero’s journey. Karel and Lize are on their own. They get through it through resilience, the hope for a better life, but especially through friendships and love. On the other hand, this book hopefully raises your awareness about our own history. One in sixteen Dutch people is a descendant of someone from the colonies. So you might think: gosh, that’s what it must have been like for my ancestors. But the most important thing is that when you put the book down, you think: I can recommend this novel to everyone.”
4. What discovery impressed you most during your research?
“That the orphans from the Veenhuizen colony belong to a piece of underexposed Dutch history. They were locked up in no man’s land under appalling conditions: not being allowed to leave the site, living in a room with eighty people, poor hygiene, homesickness, illness and death, hard work, bad food, discipline and discipline. And the orphans were the victims of what the bigwigs decided in theory with a lot of wine. With this book I hope to shed some light on these abandoned children of whom no images and hardly any memories have been preserved. Since I walked through the fourth asylum for years, I was close to Karel’s sister Lize all the time. The story found me and not the other way around. I’m just a conduit.”
5. You also stayed in the former children’s colony for months, how indispensable was that while writing?
“I was locked up in the Old Spin House for more than six months, to seek, feel and experience the loneliness that the orphans must have had. I looked out at the third asylum, where Lize Muller also lived. I felt as if I was with the orphans and could better visualize their lives. I live in the heart of Amsterdam and the peace helped me, because the senses work better in silence. The brain is like a glass of muddy water, with all those stimuli. As soon as you enter the calm, the particles sink to the bottom and it becomes clear. It was essential to the creative process.”
The Vondeling van Veenhuizen by Patricia Snel will be available in stores from April 18.
Text: Jorrit Niels | Image: Bonnita Postma
