“A story where almost every page grips you, written in a sublime style. A novel to savor.” —Marcel van Roosmalen

“A tragicomic novel about growing up in a strict Christian environment. Despite its light tone, Forever Sunday is deeply suffocating.” —Trouw

“A gloomy story like this is best told in a light-hearted way, and that is what Versluis does.” —Playboy Magazine

“Forever Sunday is a highly convincing debut novel.” —Max Magazine

“In Forever Sunday, Kees Versluis paints a portrait of a boyhood spent in a strict Reformed family in the 1980s with a coolly detached tone. Versluis vividly conveys the suffocating effect of imposed faith. The era and setting are captured in sharp, telling detail. He doesn’t turn the brothers into victims or heroes, but into believable, somewhat listless boys you can’t help but root for.” —Susan Smit

Around 1980, the carefree days come to an end for the Bosman family in the Dutch town of Pijnacker when the mother converts to the strict Reformed Congregation. Every Sunday morning, she puts her two young sons, Bram and Daan, into the car and drives them to the Maranatha Church in Delft. The black clothes, the crackle of the Bible pages, and the somber singing of psalms become the backdrop of the brothers’ childhood, along with increasingly intense arguments between their parents. The boys also frequently clash. For a while, they try to follow their mother’s lead. Narrator and eldest son Bram, keeps a close eye on which classmates curse or dare to keep their eyes open during prayer. But doubt begins to creep in. How can his mother be so certain about what is true and what isn’t? And the thought that his non-believing friend and favorite teachers are destined to burn in hell for eternity becomes unbearable. His mother, desperate to save Bram and Daan for the faith, sees one last solution: devoutly Reformed daughters-in-law. Her obsession spirals into a tyrannical crusade against Bram’s first girlfriend, who, of course, is deemed utterly unsuitable.

In Forever Sunday, former journalist Kees Versluis depicts growing up in a strict Christian household in the 1970s and ‘80s in a powerful way. He does this with a sense of irony, making the story, despite its seriousness, remarkably entertaining.