Bookplate
In his first novel, “The Boat Runner,” Assistant Professor of English Devin Murphy explores his family’s roots and the human cost of war. Through the eyes of teenager Jacob Koopman, readers experience the hardships and treachery of life in German-occupied Holland and beyond. Called “an impressive debut” by Kirkus Reviews, the book has also been translated into Dutch.
WHAT WAS YOUR RESEARCH PROCESS LIKE? From the moment I had the idea, almost everything I found, or story I heard, I held up and asked, “Would this show the impossibly complex and ethically messy reality of what it would be like to be this one Dutch family during the war?” I went to large museums and dozens of small veterans’ collections to feel weaponry and clothing, studied in every library within two days’ drive, and read philosophy, fairy tales, music and mythology. Everything in my life was consumed by wanting to know more. WHAT WAS THE ROUTE TO GETTING IT PUBLISHED? Publishing a novel has been a lifelong goal but for years I kept it secret. Then, when I was about 20, I let it slip to someone that this is what I wanted to do. This guy whose name I’ve forgotten then asked me, “What are you doing to practically achieve your goal?” WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR THE NOVEL? My mother is from the Netherlands and that side of the family was always a great source of mystery to me. Especially my late grandfather, who as the head electrical engineer for Philips, had to go into hiding when the Germans were conscripting scientists and engineers for weapons-design purposes. No one knew where he was, not even his wife who was left to tend to my mother and her three sisters during the war.
I started thinking about how I could make this happen. I read differently and looked for models to build a writing life after. This led me to graduate school, where I started writing stories that allowed me to become a proficient writer and begin publishing smaller works. My stories then got into larger and more respected journals, and that landed me a job at Bradley, then a literary agent and the attention of my eventual publisher. So, finding the practical path meant putting my life, time and career into the service of this goal.
Bradley Hilltopics Fall 2017
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