Josepha Mendels – I told you so
224 pages, 64,000 words, published in 2016
Josepha Mendels was the first winner of the Anna Bijns Prijs for female
authors in 1986. It was the coronation of an impressive oeuvre. With the
reissue of her most powerful novel, I told you so, a new generation of readers can
become acquainted with a major Dutch literary talent.
In 1943 the war starts to close in on the Netherlands and hiding is dangerous.
Frans and Henriëtte decide to flee to London, where they meet each other by
chance. Cut off from their homeland and completely isolated, they jump head
first into their new lives, and what develops into a serious love affair. As a sign
of their temporary alliance they give each other new names, one is called
Amoebe, the other Goblin. She isn’t bothered by his affairs, he is revived by
her contagious willfulness. They create a unique way of living together and the
temporary state of their affair, makes it even more special. They know this will
not last forever. When the war is over, Frans will have to return to his family in the Netherlands.
Mendels shows us the cruel necessity of love during the harshest times. And how love can be a savior
when two lost souls are away from their family and homeland. With sharp observations and beautiful
sentences, Mendels combines the reality of wartime Holland with a merry London love story, far away
from the atrocities. But the atrocities still find their way back into their lives. It is impossible to flee. Even
when you are far away.
‘Who was Josepha Mendels? [..] We get close to an answer in Je wist het toch from 1948 that has deservedly
been republished by Cossee. Even though it’s fiction, the main character of the biography, Henriette,
actually really comes to life in the novel. Mendels must have been that kind of person: a woman that was
totally alone in life, but with humour and good spirits made the best of it. An emotional, witty woman that
would rather be considered harsh than pitiful.’ – de Volkskrant★★★★
‘Josepha Mendels created an image of the independent woman in a magnificent way, humoristic and
poetic. No one wrote more enthralling about sexuality in a time when writing about sexuality was not
done.’ – de Tijd
‘Josepha Mendels shows the reader a world where the female voice is leading. In which the men are
mostly astonishing. Thus the roles are reversed.’ – Anna Bijns jury, 1986
Josepha Mendels (Groningen, 1902 – Eindhoven, 1995) grew up in a Jewish Orthodox family. She
became a governess and started writing as a journalist. For You Knew she could write from her own
experiences as an exile. It is her only novel set in WWII. Mendels was in London during the war, where
she was sent to when she was put in jail in Spain.
Cossee Publishers, Kerkstraat 361, 1017 HW Amsterdam, the Netherlands | For more information, please
contact Stella Rieck: [email protected] or visit www.cossee.com/foreignrights. | To support Dutch literature
beyond our borders, translation grants can be obtained through The Dutch Foundation For Literature. Visit
www.letterenfonds.nl/en/grants for more information.