Two Suitcases

Martine Vanderheyden, 44 years old, left her native Belgium to live in Norway. Despite her French-speaking culture, despite the African origins passed on by her Rwandan mother, she does indeed feel Scandinavian at heart. Martine would like to write the sequel to «Une Aventure», her first autobiographical novel (Edilivre, 2016). From Norway, where she lives, she writes to her French friend to tell her of her intention. In the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the letters that Anne and Martine exchange mix everyday life with memories of the dark years she has just lived through. Martine reveals, little by little, with modesty, the wounds she has suffered, her journey as a solo mum, but also the strenghts she has mobilized to rebuild herself. She came in Stavanger in 2006 to study a master degree in Special Needs Education and now works as a special needs teacher. Martine wrote her first autobiographical account in 2015, when, following an open-heart surgery, she came close to death. She wished to leave testimony to her three young children. Rescued, she then went trough a long dark period followed by an unexpected rebirth. In 2020, pregnant with her fourth child, she decides to take up her pen again and passes on her life experience, to reveal the emotions that accompanied her during her struggles.

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