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Pieter Webeling – Forty DaysJennifer, a level-headed Dutch journalist, receives an unusual request. She is asked to write abiography of her sister who is terminally ill, so that David, her nephew, will have a documentto remember his mother by. It is also an emotionally charged request because Jennifer hashad a loving relationship with David’s father. Because of her sister’s deceit, Jennifer’s lifechanged course tragically.At first Jennifer refuses. It’s demanding the impossible. Later she decides to try, if only forDavid, a serious and innocent young boy who’s always glad to see his aunt. In the forty daysJennifer has to portray her sister, she repeatedly discovers her sibling is always one stepahead of her.This novel is particularly moving because of the moral dilemmas with which Jennifer isconfronted. Pieter Webeling has brilliantly managed to place himself in the emotions of ayoung woman, and has written an accessible and thrilling story, which keeps you guessinguntil the last page.‘The phenomenal interviewer Webeling has written a novel, and with it has crossed a boundary. His characters know nobounds either!’ — Adriaan van Dis‘With Forty Days, Webeling has written a novel in which you can sense that something personal is at stake. Webeling lookssuffering straight in the eye.’ – NRC HandelsbladAuthor: Pieter WebelingAuthor: Pieter WebelingTitle: Forty Days (fiction)Title: The Book of Laughter and Death (fiction)Original title: Veertig dagenOriginal title: De lach en de doodPublished: 2008 Published: 2010Size: 208 pages / 47.000 wordsSize: 264 pages / 75.000 wordsPieter Webeling – The Book of Laughter and DeathRights sold to:Germany, Karl BlessingFrance, DenoëlTurkey, Neden KitapENGLISH SAMPLETRANSLATION AVAILABLEWhen the legendary Jewish comedian Earnest Hofman (‘No humor without being Earnest’) isdeported to a camp in Poland in February 1944, his skills become a way to survive. Hisbeloved Helena is in the women’s camp and in exchange for the delivery of love letters –written on paper from bags of cement – he tells his fellow inmates jokes for fifteen minutesevery day. This doesn’t go unnoticed.The camp commandant asks him to perform for the Germans. Hofman refuses, even if beingan SS-comedian would give him access to a good supply of food. But then he realizes that hisperformances could save Helena who is seriously ill. Behind the curtains for his first show hehears the German audience sing Wenn das Judenblut vom Messer spritzt. How is he going toentertain the enemy in this highly charged atmosphere?Pieter Webeling questions how we make moral decisions. Humor is a weapon of survival, buthow far can you go? What happens to humor when it is balanced with the most weightymatters? Can a joke save lives when death is near? When Earnest prepares his comeback in alarge Amsterdam theatre in 1946, he realizes that the greatest misery can produce thebiggest laughter. But can he use these jokes?‘An impressive story about war and humor. Laughing to keep from going insane. Humor isliterally a matter of life or death’ – Nederlands Dagblad‘Webeling’s The Book of Laughter and Death is one of the most frightful and one of themost beautiful books I have ever read. It brings you laughter and tears. It is a book with asoul’ – Literair Nederland‘Humor as savior in the deepest of the hell. A thrillingly beautiful book’ – Dutch stand-up comedian Youp van ‘t Hek