People with No Charisma

Jente Posthuma, Sarah Timmer Harvey

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English

Scribe Publications
29 July 2025

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Fiction in translation

From the International Booker Prize- shortlisted author of What I'd Rather Not Think About comes a darkly humorous novel about multigenerational family dynamics and individuality in Dutch suburbia.

An unnamed narrator grows up overshadowed by her unconventional mother, an ex-Jehovah's witness and former television star with an inferiority complex. Her father is the head of a psychiatric institution, whose only form of parenting is to offer his daughter the same life advice he dispenses to his patients. Reserved and somewhat aloof, he chooses not to intervene when his wife obsesses about charisma, calorie counting, and turning their daughter into a child prodigy.

Their daughter strives to meet her mother's expectations and bond with her father while secretly worrying she lacks the drive or charisma to do anything significant with her life. When her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she begins to address their generational trauma, forge a new relationship with her father, and discover life on her terms. In twelve chapters - each reflecting a different phase of life - Posthuma expertly dissects a fraught family history, exposing the absurdity that often lies at the heart of life's most poignant and challenging moments.

'In her debut novel, and second work of fiction to appear in English following the lauded What I'd Rather Not Think About, Dutch author Jente Posthuma examines life with an anthropologist's sense of the absurd. She sets her sights on mundane family life, finding it both nightmarishly farcical and full of human warmth.' -Declan Fry, ABC News

'From award-winning Dutch author Posthuma comes this novella about a young Dutch girl growing up in a complex and unconventional family ... funny and poignant ...

A

thought-provoking novel about finding one's place in the world.' -Merie Jacob, Booklist

'There is a beautiful and misleading ennui around Posthuma's story. That may make it sound dull, but it is far from it! This is a darkly humorous story that is both compelling and insightful. So much happens with seemingly little action, but the breadth of the story is both contained and boundless.' -Rosalind McClintock, Readings

By: Jente Posthuma, Sarah Timmer Harvey
Imprint: Scribe Publications
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 197mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 173g
ISBN: 9781761381348
ISBN 10: 1761381342
Pages: 176
Publication Date: 29 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jente Posthuma (Author) Jente Posthuma debuted in 2016 with People With No Charisma, which was published to critical acclaim. Her second novel, What I'd Rather Not Think About (2020) was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature. The English-language translation by Sarah Timmer Harvey was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024. The translation rights of What I'd Rather Not Think About have been sold to more than fifteen countries. Posthuma's third book Witch! Witch! Witch! (2023) is an idiosyncratic and witty retelling of three ancient Dutch sagas. Posthuma is currently working on a memoir. Sarah Timmer Harvey (Author) Sarah Timmer Harvey is a translator and writer currently based in Woodstock, New York. She holds an MFA from Columbia University in New York and a BA from Southern Cross University. Reconstruction, their translation of stories written by the Dutch-Surinamese writer Karin Amatmoekrim was published in 2020, and their translation of Thistle by Nadia de Vries was published in 2024. Sarah's translations of Dutch-language poetry and prose have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Born in Australia, she lived and worked in the Netherlands for 14 years before moving to New York City in 2013.