Goodreads asked Els Boot:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Els Boot The story about this quest by Paul van der Berg sprouted after my friend Dimitris died of a heart attack. In the years that I've known him, he often told me about this friend that he had in the Netherlands. The last time I spoke Dimitris he said he planned to visit him again, after forty years. Unfortunately he never got the chance to do this. A few months later Dimitris died.

I forgot the name of his Dutch friend and because of this, could not search for him. Gradually the idea for this story was created. It is actually not a novel but more of a narrative or a trip report in a metaphorical sense. I deliberately chose to tell the story through the eyes of Dimitris' friend Paul. This way, the death of Dimitris feels not without significance. The comparison with Homer's Odyssey is therefor logical.

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