First edition, hardcover, June 2012 / e-book, June 2012 / fourth edition, paperback, October 2018.

Nominations Boekenleeuw 2013 and Kinder- en Jeugdjury Vlaanderen 2014.

The Little Paradise
Querido, june 2012

Lilita’s father founded Barnstad and built a house there for himself and his wife. She, however, felt the need to go wandering, and out of desperation and love he built a wall around the city. When she succeeded in escaping all the same, he had the city hermetically sealed. Lilita was born outside the wall, and keeps all her questions and thoughts about her father in antlers which keep on growing bigger. She succeeds in getting into Barnstad and meets her quarrelling half brothers and her father. But does he want to get to know her?

The Little Paradise is a tale of longing, of family, of breaking free and wanting to belong and the difficult balance between all that. Jef Aerts spins a fairytale web of beautiful metaphors and well developed characters with a deeply melancholic undertone.

Cover illustration: www.korneeldetailleur.com.

‘Aerts has a remarkably pure, poetic style.’ De Leeswelp

‘A compelling fairytale filled with fantasy, philosophy and poetic phrases.’ Het Parool

The Little Paradise will be translated into Arab by Bright Fingers.

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