Marjolein van der Gaag on Everyday Fear, Family Life, and Hidden Depths
The journalist-turned-author behind Beneath the Surface—a tense tale in Dutch Treats: Short Crime Fiction from the Netherlands and Flanders
In her suspenseful story Beneath the Surface, Marjolein van der Gaag explores the quiet terror that can lurk within ordinary moments. A former journalist and current Dutch teacher, van der Gaag draws on everyday experience—and a deep love for her home in Arnhem—to craft fiction that’s both grounded and gripping. Here, she talks about her inspiration, her favorite getaway for visitors, and why you should venture beyond Amsterdam on your next trip to the Netherlands.
Dutch Treats: Meet Marjolein van der Gaag
• Tell our readers a little about yourself.
I live with my husband, three children, two dogs, and a cockatiel in Arnhem, in the east of The Netherlands, not far from the German border. I used to work as a journalist, including some time at De Telegraaf, the largest daily newspaper in Holland. Now my day job is teaching Dutch at a secondary school.
• Where did the idea for “Beneath the Surface,” your contribution to Dutch Treats, come from?
I like writing about the sort of nerve-wracking situations that can occur to anyone in real life. And that’s what happens in “Beneath the Surface,” which begins during an ordinary swim lesson….
• If American readers were to visit The Netherlands, what’s one thing you’d encourage them to see or do?
I advise Americans who come to The Netherlands to see more than just Amsterdam. Arnhem is only an hour away by train and less than half an hour from two beautiful national parks, the Hoge Veluwe and the Veluwezoom. (And when you get to the Hoge Veluwe, you can pedal the free white bikes to the Kröller-Müller Museum, which has the world’s second-largest collection of Van Gogh paintings and none of the crowds of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum!)
