The Institute

Fiction. Translated from the Dutch by Susan Ridder. THE INSTITUTE is a beautifully written boarding school novel about a boy who is searching for his identity and a sense of security. It is both hilarious and moving, and paints a frank picture of the 1970s, when 'everything had to be tried out.'

Otto Iking is an outsider, at home as well as at the boarding school for the blind, but he is also an observer. Otto looks at the world around him with an unpitying sense of humour. He observes the other children as well as the carers and teachers, who aim to prepare their pupils for the able-bodied world which 'can be very tough.' He discovers his feelings for Sonia, a fellow student, and he makes plans for a rescue mission to liberate hostages in the notorious Moluccan hijacking case in Bovensmilde. But most of all, he wants to escape from the institution for the blind to a school for sighted children. Otto doesn't want sympathy. He can see a future: working for the radio. In short, a novel about a boy with remarkable powers of observation.