Fabrica

Fabrica follows a mother and daughter who seek freedom. Their story spans the years before and during World War I. Simone van der Vlugt blends a family tale with a novel set in the past.

In Amsterdam in 1892, Lydia mourns both her parents. They leave her a city house and a farm in Purmerend. She hopes to carry out her father's plan for a cheese factory. Steam power would drive its new machines. But rules bar her from owning a business alone. She teams up with Huib Minnes, a local farmer. He welcomes change. They build the largest cheese factory in the area.

In 1913, Lydia's daughter Nora finds a painful family secret by chance. She seeks distance from her mother and her old life. She agrees to marry Ralph Reymaekers. She then settles with him in Antwerp. Yet marriage does not bring the joy she hoped for. War soon adds new threats to both women's lives.

The novel explores grief, family ties, forbidden love and hard choices. It links women's fight for freedom with gaps between social classes. It also links that fight with changes in industry. Early feminism, the push for women's rights, shapes this world. Leading figures in that cause also play a part. Steam engines and radioactivity feature in this tale of change too.

This edition belongs to the Actual series. Gheorghe Nicolaescu translated the text from Dutch. He also supplied notes.