Tender Souls

Ibrahim Selman (1952) is a director, screenwriter, publicist, poet and novelist. He previously published the poetry collections Dance of a Frozen Land and Freedom is Dead and the novels And the Sea Split in Two and I Thought of Coconut. He regularly writes for NRC Handelsblad, Vrij Nederland and Trouw, among others. Tender Souls is his third novel.
Elvira van den Acker is 29 years old when her third suicide attempt fails and she goes to psychiatrist Zana Qazi for treatment. Elvira can't stand his calm and sing-song voice. She walks away after a few minutes during the first four meetings. The psychiatrist is patient and tries to get her talking and put his finger on the sore spot, but Elvira only tells her what she wants and tries to turn the tables. This creates an exciting game in which fantasy and truth are interwoven. The mutual erotic desires of Elvira and Zana form a significant part of this game, because both confuse the other with other people from their intense and dramatic past. Gradually the light takes over. Tender Souls is a cleverly constructed story about delusions and certainties, eroticism and a desire for death, love and sorrow.
'Selman creates (...) a deceptive simplicity, which is all the more disturbing… Keep an eye on this writer!' vrij Nederland