Flemish writer Annelies Verbek won the Debut Prize for her first novel in 2004. Her Radio Books contribution is a tragic-comic tale of a supermarket cashier who daydreams of passion and romance as customers come and go.

Annelies Verbeke - 'It Exists'

Annelies Verbeke was born in 1976 and she knew when she was just five years old that she wanted to write a novel. Before her childhood was out she’d written numerous fairy tales. Twenty years later her first novel was published. Called simply ‘Slaap’ (Sleep) it was not only critically acclaimed but also sold well and has been translated into a number of languages.

“My stories are usually about the underdog,” Verbeke says, “because to my mind, he is closer to the essence of life, and is therefore more interesting in his quest for his own truth. I want to move people, make them laugh and give them a feeling of solidarity, in the hope that this – even if only briefly – will draw them a little closer together.”

Annelies Verbeke’s second novel ‘Reus’ (Giant) was published in 2006. It tells the story of two sisters in their late twenties who have not stopped hating their mother since she walked out on them twelve years before - characters who somehow feel that everyone around them are unfathomable strangers. 

As well as writing novels Annelies Verbeke writes regularly for the newspaper De Standaard and is a columnist for the NRC Handelsblad.

Passion and romance

Her Radio Book story tells the tragi-comic tale of supermarket cashier Lindsay. She’s described as a daydreamer and spends large parts of her day thinking of escape and love. The customers come and go, some with tins of ravioli, others with frozen pork and she wonders about their lives and their loves. But above all, she wants her lonely life to be filled with adventure. She wants passion and romance. She’s searching for that elusive swarthy lover who’ll whisk her away to a perfect life.    

“No, Lindsay doesn’t know exactly what her new life will be like. That’s why she hardly talks about it. But it will be starting shortly. It won’t be long before she arrives at the surprising change of course. A little more squatting down to fill shelves. A little more promoting Chaumes. A little more operating the conveyer belt with her foot. A little more cycling home in the rain to an unlit house. And then things will be different. From then on there will be something to do with adventure and foreign cultures. Something to do with talent and recognition. Perhaps under a warm sun, with a swarthy lover.”

‘It Exists’ by Annelies Verbeke was translated by Michael Blass. The story is read by Chris Chambers.

The series Radio Books is an initiative of Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.