Dissenting From the World

When Ria Westra walked towards the river that July afternoon in the Dutch village of Elst, she knew for certain that she had holidays there in the Province of Gelderland, but not much more than that. It was the area between Arnhem and Nijmegen where all the Westra’s she knew were born and grown up, and where they had been involved in growing all kinds of fruit in the fertile clay soil. Beyond the river was the old post-mill she knew so well; it could be turned in any direction from which the...