Tessa de Loo
Tessa de Loo (born 15 October 1946) is the pen name of the Dutch novelist and short story writer Johanna Martina (Tineke) Duyvené de Wit. Biography. Born in Bussum in North Holland, de Loo was the oldest of three children. After matriculating from high school, she studied Dutch at Utrecht University but interrupted her studies for a time to work as a teacher. In 1976, she returned to university but finally decided to devote her life entirely to writing. She had married when she was 20 but from 1980 she lived alone with her son in Pieterburen  on the north coast. After the Dutch newspapers had published two of her short stories in 1975 and 1978, she finally succeeded to have her novel "De meisjes van de suikerwerkfabriek" published in 1983. Other successes have been "Meander" (1986), "" (The Burnt Offering, 1987) and "Isabelle" (1989) but her greatest success to date has been "De tweeling" (1993), translated into English as "The Twins" (2000). The award-winning novel tells the story of twin sisters who were separated during the Second World War, one living in Germany, the other in the Netherlands. They meet again when they have both reached  old age, providing a framework for presenting the history of relationships between the two countries. Now living in the south of Portugal, Tessa de Loo has become one of the most successful Dutch novelists. Works. Tessa de Loo has written the following novels: