People with No Charisma
Translated by Sarah Timmer Harvey
Overview
From the International Booker Prize–shortlisted author of What I’d Rather Not Think About comes a darkly humorous novel about multigenerational family dynamics and individuality in Dutch suburbia.
An unnamed narrator grows up overshadowed by her unconventional mother, an ex–Jehovah’s Witness and former television star with an inferiority complex. Her father is the head of a psychiatric institution, whose only form of parenting is to offer his daughter the same life advice he dispenses to his patients. Reserved and somewhat aloof, he chooses not to intervene when his wife obsesses about charisma, calorie counting, and turning their daughter into a child prodigy.
Their daughter strives to meet her mother’s expectations and bond with her father while secretly worrying she lacks the drive or charisma to do anything significant with her life. When her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she begins to address their generational trauma, forge a new relationship with her father, and discover life on her terms. In twelve chapters — each reflecting a different phase of life — Posthuma expertly dissects a fraught family history, exposing the absurdity that often lies at the heart of life’s most poignant and challenging moments.
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Rights held
- Other rights
- Paperback
- 198mm x 129mm
- 176 pages
- 9781917189033
- GBP£9.99
- 17 July 2025
- World English
- Van Grunsven Creative Management
Categories
Praise
‘From award-winning Dutch author Posthuma comes this novella about a young Dutch girl growing up in a complex and unconventional family … funny and poignant … [A] thought-provoking novel about finding one’s place in the world.’
‘There is a beautiful and misleading ennui around Posthuma's story. That may make it sound dull, but it is far from it! This is a darkly humorous story that is both compelling and insightful. So much happens with seemingly little action, but the breadth of the story is both contained and boundless.’
About the Author
Jente Posthuma is a Dutch writer whose first novel, People With No Charisma, was published in the Netherlands to critical acclaim. Her second novel, What I’d Rather Not Think About (2020) was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature. The English-language translation by Sarah Timmer Harvey was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024. The translation rights of What I’d Rather Not Think About have been sold in more than fifteen countries. Posthuma’s third book Witch! Witch! Witch! (2023) is an idiosyncratic and witty retelling of three ancient Dutch sagas. Posthuma is currently working on a memoir.
Translator
Sarah Timmer Harvey is a translator and writer currently based in Woodstock, New York. She holds an MFA from Columbia University in New York and a BA from Southern Cross University. Reconstruction, their translation of stories written by the Dutch Surinamese writer Karin Amatmoekrim was published in 2020, and their translation of Thistle by Nadia de Vries was published in 2024. Sarah’s translations of Dutch-language poetry and prose have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Born in Australia, she lived and worked in the Netherlands for fourteen years before moving to New York City in 2013.
