ORDER BOOK (Dutch language)
In the summer of 2016, Geerteke van Lierop’s partner did not come home. He had drowned. What happens when fate strikes so unexpectedly? Van Lierop explores her unspeakable grief and in doing so reclaims life from death. In poetic language and with great clarity and a surprising lightness of touch, Sea of Glass introduces us to another form of beauty in life. A story with universal appeal. But above all, a book that makes you look at life differently.
Sea of Glass is itself an example of what Art in Grief explores: how making can help give form to loss.
‘Sea of Glass beautifully maps how a life is lived after a death. Grief is prose, it is mundane, monotonous, dull, but its exploration here is poetry – brief thoughts and feelings, like shards of glass, catching a beam of light in a dark space. In Sea of Glass, Geerteke van Lierop schools herself through new words and new art to navigate how to live in this new landscape, formed by pain – but a pain celebrated as it perfectly balances the love that was felt.’ — Greg Wise, actor and author of Grief Talking: Tales of Loss and Learning
‘Devoid of any sentimentality Van Lierop gives a razor-sharp account of her piercing loss and despair, but also of courage and a growing zest for life during the first year following her great love’s fatal accident.’ — ZIN Magazine
‘A sophisticated book that gives a penetrating picture of what happens when you face death.’ — Lex Bohlmeijer, De Correspondent
‘This moving book opens your eyes to the grief around you. An invitation to be there for others in life’s darkest hours’ — Manu Keirse, Professor Emeritus of Grief, KU Leuven
About the writer
Geerteke van Lierop is a Dutch author, actress, and public speaker about loss and resilience. Sea of Glass, her debut, was published in Dutch by Uitgeverij Ten Have titled Een zee van glas. The book has been embraced by a wide audience. The fourth edition in hardcover is sold out, but a new paperback edition is now available.
The English translation Sea of Glass will be published at the end of October 2026.
