The Angel Maker is one of the few (only?) books I have read by a Belgian author, which is probably more to do with a lack of interest on the part of publishers in Flemish/English translations than any lack of talent in the Belgian publishing scene. Certainly, Stefan Brijs has produced a complex and engaging novel, which deservedly won the Golden Owl from the Royal Academy for Dutch Language and Literature in 2006. Hester Velmans has translated the book in a flowing style leaving no sense of "translation" in the finished work.
The book seems to be marketed by its publishers as thriller, but it is far much than that. The story concerns a doctor who returns to the small village of Wolfheim after many years, with three identical children in the back-seat of his car, all with a hare-lip. Dr Victor Hoppe lives a secluded life and keeps his children away from public view. The villagers view him with suspicion but he soon wins their trust by performing some notable cures.
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