Mira Sys | The Protégé

Orig. Title: De beschermelinge Orig. Language: Dutch Orig. Publisher: Meulenhoff 224 pp. | April 2022 Territory: World excl. Dutch

MATERIAL AVAILABLE Dutch MS English sample

Mira Sys (1995) is a Flemish writer and investigative journalist. After finishing her Bachelor’s in Dutch Language and Communication, she went on to complete a Master’s degree in Journalism and Media at the University of Amsterdam. She wrote articles for de Volkskrant, NRC Handelsblad, and De Correspondent and now works for Follow the Money, while also writing fiction. The Protégé is her debut novel.

For Linda, the memorial service is the moment when everything comes back. She sees the images again and they hurt her more after all these years than she could have imagined. Her boyfriend Frank’s patience is gradually running out. Why is she pushing him so far away?

She hasn’t told anyone about what really happened, the days when she wandered aimlessly in the woods with her brothers. About the cold, the friendship, or the salty tears. When she was a child, she could hardly foresee the consequences. But now, as a grown woman, it becomes painfully clear that in order to move forward, she must face the past.

The Protégé is a riveting psychological drama that surprisingly unfolds across several timelines. In the past, Sys follows a group of siblings who do not want to let go of their childhood. In the present, through the eyes of Linda and one of her brothers, it slowly becomes clear how their youth has shaped their lives. Mira Sys provides an oppressive insight into how echoes from the past can resound and asks an important question: how reliable are memories?