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Thriller set in Ghent (author Helen Grant talks about Ghent as a location)

3rd June 2014

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Enjoying reading the book.

Demons of Ghent by Helen Grant, set in Ghent. This excellent thriller set in Ghent follows on from the first book in the trilogy, Silent Saturday (set in Tervuren and Brussels) and Veerle is picking up her life, living with her Father and his partner. She is an avid climber and regularly goes to practice on the local Climbing Wall. Her ability to scale the dizzying heights of the rooftops of Ghent (“the mountains of Ghent”) are essential once she spots faces from the past. Evil Joren Sterckx is dead, isn’t he? Did she really catch sight of Hommel? Is Death stalking the streets once again -people are dying, falling from heights – are the Demons of Ghent responsible?

Teenager Veerle has very real issues facing her at home, coming to terms with events in her past and now living with her Father in his blended family – not to mention love interests….A cracker of a thriller that will keep YA (and older) readers absolutely enthralled.

We are so pleased to be involved in the blogtour to mark the publication of this book. Thank you to Emma Pass yesterday, and tomorrow A Fantastical Librarian joins the tour. Now it’s over to author, Helen Grant, who is talking travel and location:

The murderous magic of Ghent

Some places are special.

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Author Helen Grant

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been in love with the idea of Abroad. I started travelling by myself in 1978 at the age of thirteen, and over the years I’ve visited many countries including the Lebanon, Uzbekistan and Iran. We also lived abroad for a decade, in Spain, then Germany and finally Belgium.

I can’t think of many places I’ve actively disliked, and I’ve never lost the excitement of visiting somewhere new. All the same, some places really are extra special – and for me, as a writer, literally inspiring.

I write thrillers, and occasionally ghost stories, and many of them were inspired by real life places – for example, my first novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, is set in Bad Münstereifel, Germany, where we lived for seven years. The idea for the book came directly from the folklore and history of the town. I’ve also written ghost stories set in Slovakia, France and Germany.

When people discover what I do, they quite often say, “You should go and visit such-and-such place,” usually a creepy location of some kind – perhaps an old church or castle. The problem is that inspiration is a very unpredictable thing. I’ve been to Rosslyn Chapel, where part of the bestselling Da Vinci Code is set, and although I was interested, it didn’t light my fire – although it obviously lit Dan Brown’s! On the other hand, a small and ancient village church in Flanders that I visited in January 2011 provided the backdrop for the opening of Silent Saturday.

And then there is Ghent.

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Wonderful Ghent

I first visited Ghent in March 2011, when I was still in the early stages of working on Silent Saturday. I suppose we were there for about four hours. We visited Sint Baafs cathedral, the Belfort tower and the Gravensteen castle, and wandered up and down the Graslei. Only four hours, but it was long enough for me to fall in love with the city.

This is what I mean about unpredictability. I’ve been to Antwerp, which is also a lovely city, many more times than I have been to Ghent. I’ve been to Bruges once too, though long ago. But it took a single afternoon in Ghent to make me realise that it was The One. I decided that the sequel to Silent Saturday (which is set in Tervuren and Brussels) would be set there.

Rushing into any relationship means finding out a lot about the object of your affections in a very short time! In order to know Ghent more thoroughly, I went back for a week in 2012 and spent days wandering around, visiting all the sights, taking notes and photographs and short video clips, and soaking up the atmosphere. On closer acquaintance, Ghent didn’t disappoint. It really is an amazing place.

These are the things I love about it:

The sense of history

Ghent has cobbled streets, old guildhouses and Gothic churches. I love the fact that the mediaeval city is still apparent in modern Ghent. If you stand at the top of the Gravensteen castle you can still see the three great towers, the Belfort, Sint-Baafs cathedral and Sint-Niklaas church, just as you could have done centuries ago.

Sint-Baafs cathedral

I’ve visited all of the three big Gothic churches in Ghent: Sint-Baafs, Sint-Niklaas and the Sint-Michielskerk. All of them are stunning, but Sint-Baafs really spoke to me. I’ve been round it twice and I still don’t feel that I’ve seen everything properly. There are all sorts of gems, such as the tomb near the altar, with a gruesome-looking skeleton popping up on it! And of course the cathedral houses one of my other favourite Ghent things…

The Ghent altarpiece

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Even if you aren’t a fan of 15th century art, it’s hard not to be impressed by the Van Eyck brothers’ masterpiece. It’s huge, gorgeously colourful, unbelievably detailed and has an almost photographic quality to it. A total of 170 figures surround the central scene of the Lamb of God with blood pouring from its pierced breast. Amongst the crowds on the right-hand panels nearly everyone is looking at the Lamb, one or two are looking down, and a single bishop stares straight out at the viewer, challengingly. Once I noticed that bishop I was fascinated in a creepy kind of way! I’ve put the altarpiece and the bishop into Demons of Ghent.

 

Canals

It is Bruges that is commonly referred to as “the Venice of the north” of Belgium, but Ghent has its own canals too, and the beautiful old buildings reflected in the calm water is one of the finest sights of the city. Which brings me to another thing I love about Ghent…

Bessenjenever

Last time I was in Ghent I made a point of stopping off in a little bar overlooking the Graslei, Ghent’s waterfront, and drinking a glass of bessenjenever, the berry-flavoured Flemish gin. I had never tried it before we moved to Belgium. When I was writing Silent Saturday I asked a Flemish friend what the hero and heroine would drink – beer, wine? He suggested bessenjenever. I bought a bottle for (cough!) research purposes and found that it was delicious. My favourite brand of jenever, Peterman, was created in Ghent.

The Gravensteen

A moated 12th century castle with a 30m high keep, the Gravensteen boasts a stone chapel, spiral staircases, dungeons, a marvellous rooftop view of Ghent and a torture museum with a rack and a guillotine in it. Something for all the family…

Traditional sweets

Neuzekes, also called cuberdons, are Ghent’s traditional sweets. Cone shaped and a kind of purple-red colour, they are crisp on the outside and liquid on the inside. You can actually get Peterman jenever in cuberdon flavour, thus combining two great Ghent traditions!

I could happily go on about the wonders of Ghent all day! In fact, I should probably write another book set there, just to give myself an excuse to go back again!

Thank you to Helen. You can follow her via her blog and on Twitter and Facebook

And you can connect with TripFiction via Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest – and now on Instagram too.

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Comments

  1. User: Patrick Vastiau

    Posted on: 28/03/2016 at 4:06 pm

    I was born in Gent and lived for years in Gent zuid.I went to school in Gent (Sint Lievenskollege)and to its university.
    Now I live in Tervuren,which is also excellent.
    I’m really in love with Gent,for ever !
    Brugge is just whipped cream (and not even of a very good taste).
    Gent is more anarchistic and mainly of a nonviolent nature.

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