Inventive, dreamy Gieles lives with his father and a flock of geese on a plane-spotters' campsite next to an airstrip. The surrounding landscape reclaimed from the sea, is as isolated as Gieles himself. The fourteen-year-old boy is longing for the mysterious dreadlocked girl he's met online, and for the affection of his absent mother, off on hapless missions to save the world. The boy conceives a desperate, dangerous plan to attract his mother's attention. He'll be a hero. Just like Captain Sully, who bravely landed on the Hudson after geese flew into his engines. Goemans' charmingly upbeat novel describes the fantasy-driven world of a teenage boy. At the same time, it tells the incredible story about how the Dutch turned water into land.
"A book you feel homesick for as soon as you've closed it."
Peter Buwalda, author of Bonita Avenue
"A hip regional novel that is every bit as good as Joe Speedboat."
P.F. Thomése, author of Shadowchild
"A well-balanced, complete novel that stands out because of its many themes and quirky, eccentric characters whose tragicomic traits are movingly identifiable."
