About the book

In the year 1885, Hippolyte van Damme steals a number of old letters from an antiquarian bookseller. It turns out they are letters written by Willem Silvius, a prisoner and former publisher, to his wife at the height of the Protestant iconoclastic riots of the 16th century. As a writer of gossipy newspaper supplements constantly in search of sensationalist material, Hippolyte is convinced that he’s struck gold. But it turns out he is badly mistaken, and before long the consequences of this petty crime wreak havoc in his life.

In Willem and My Lust, Olyslaegers draws readers into this tragicomic life characterized by lust, theft and an obsession with books, while teaching us something about what men think they know about women.