Best friends Hendrik and Evert return as the protagonists of an unsought, but very surprising adventure!

Takes place nine years before The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old, Hendrik Groen’s first diary.

Written in Hendrik Groen’s trademark style: funny and moving, at times with a sharp edge.

Hendrik Groen and Evert Duiker, faithful friends in good and bad times, are well over seventy and their lives have quieted down. They see each other once a week to play chess, have a drink and grab a bite to eat. Meanwhile, they reflect on life.

But one day, peace is crudely disturbed when Evert shows up on Hendrik’s doorstep with a surprise in the form of an unexpected little guest. He spotted a pram with a baby in it – unattended for just a minute – and, in a momentary lapse of reason, decided to take it for a walk. Hilarious, right? Not according to Hendrik, who can barely believe his friend’s stupidity.

The friends turn out to be quite competent babysitters, as they desperately try to get the little one back with its parents without being noticed. But getting rid of their accidental foster child turns out to be more difficult than expected…

Hendrik Groen published his first diary in 2014. The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old was an enormous success: there is an actual Hendrik Groen fan club, foreign rights were sold to 36 countries, a television series was produced, and it was adapted into a play. His second diary, As Long As There Is Life, has also been a huge bestseller, published in English as On the Bright Side. His diaries have sold over 550.000 copies in the Netherlands and Flanders, and they both received the Dutch Railways Public Award. His novel Live and Let Live was published in June 2018 and went straight to #1 in the bestseller lists. Hendrik Groen is a pseudonym.