Eric de Kuyper near Nijmegen in Kranenburg in Germany, about from the Dutch border, as does the main character of de Kuyper's short story "De verkeerde krant," ("The Wrong Newspaper"). De Kuyper has said that he feels at home both in Belgium and the Netherlands to a certain degree, as well as somewhat of a stranger in each of the countries. De Kuyper's first novel ("Aan zee: taferelen uit de kinderjaren"; "By the Sea: Scenes from a Childhood") consists of a series of insightful snapshots of a small boy's life in post-World War II Brussels and family summer vacation at Ostend.Together, they conjure
Lucas Bols Dutch East India Company, of which Lucas was a major shareholder, brought exotic herbs, spices and fruits back to Amsterdam, and these were used to create new liqueurs and genevers. During the 18th century, the Bols family became a very prosperous dynasty, but found itself becoming more and more detached from the day to day operation of the distillery. This lack of family leadership, along with the Continental Blockade of Napoleon, severely weakened the company, and when last male heir, Herman Bols, died in 1813, the company was offered for sale. Napoleon's defeat in 1815 sparked buying interest in the