Emanuel, novel

Emanuel is a moving historical novel about the Jewish Rotterdammer Emanuel Cats. The book provides a beautiful and compelling representation of Rotterdam before and during the Second World War.

When 13-year-old Emanuel receives a Torah for his birthday, he has no idea that his Jewish background will play such a crucial role in his life. The atmosphere in Europe gradually becomes grimmer and Rotterdam also eventually becomes the scene of an all-encompassing war.

A few years ago, Rotterdam author Chris Buitendijk got his hands on an old Torah and started looking for the history behind the name in the old Jewish Bible. Who owned the book and what was his life like? The result is Emanuel - a semi-fictional novel about a man in Rotterdam before and during the Second World War. At the same time, an age-old story is being told here, a story about a boy's growing up, about love and losing love, about guilt and forgiveness. How do you stay standing when your world is shaking?