The Angel Maker

The Angel Maker is a book that was written by Stefan Brijs. It was made in 2005. The original language is Dutch. The original title is De engelenmaker.

Story
Victor Hoppe is a fertility doctor (a doctor who helps couples to become pregnant). He was born in Wolfheim. Wolfheim is a small village in Belgium near the 3-border point. This is the place where Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands touch. Victor left Wolfheim over 20 years ago. Now, he returns to Wolfheim with his three baby sons. The other villagers are worried, because Victor's sons appear sick. The villagers start talking about Victor. They talk about what happened to Victor as a child. They ask each other why Victor came back to his village, and why his sons are sick.

Reception
The Angel Maker won many prizes in Belgium:
It won the 5-yearly Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature Prize for Prose. The Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature is an organisation that supports science and art in the Dutch language. A group of language and art experts from the Royal Academy chose The Angel Maker as their favorite book.
It also won the Gouden Uil (Golden Owl) Audience Award. This means that regular people chose The Angel Maker as their favorite book. 

In 2019, researchers asked Dutch students which books on literature lists they like the most. A literature list is a list of books that teachers tell their students to read. The Angel Maker was their favorite book. Students gave it a score of 8.1/10.Dera, J. (2019). De praktijk van de leeslijst. Een onderzoek naar de inhoud en waardering van literatuurlijsten voor het schoolvak Nederlands op havo en vwo. [The practice of the literature list: research into the contents and appreciation for literature list for Dutch language classes in havo and vwo] Amsterdam: Stichting Lezen. (In Dutch)(https://www.lezen.nl/publicatie/de-praktijk-van-de-leeslijst/) Retrieved 2023-06-28

Sequel
In 2022, Stefan Brijs said he was writing a book that comes after The Angel Maker. He said it is called The Angel of Wolfheim (Dutch: De engel van Wolfheim). He has not talked about the book since then.

Movies
Three people have tried to make a movie based on the book. None of them were able to finish. Newspapers call The Angel Maker "unadapatable" because everyone who has tried to make a movie has failed.
In 2006, Rudi Van Den Bossche tried to make a movie. The Flemish Audiovisual Fund gave him subsidies (money from the government) to write the movie script. He needed more money to actually make the film. He had to stop because the Flemish Audivisual Fund didn't give him more subsidies.
In 2012, Christophe Van Rompaey said he was going to try to make a movie. He has not talked about the movie since then.
In 2023, Martin Koolhoven said he was going to make a movie. He said he was going to finish the script in 2024. He has not talked about the movie since then. In 2025, nobody knows if Koolhoven is still working on the movie.

References

Category:2005 books