Book of My Life: Sheena Patel in conversation with Anne Jonker

About Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

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Information

Date and time Friday 23 January 2026 20:10 tot 20:30 uur
Location Filmhuis - Studio A
Price 15,- (up to 30 years or Ooievaarspas)
25,- (Early Bird, up to 26 December, after 35,-)
32,50 (DenHaagPas).

Writers tell us about their favourite book: the book that inspires or touches them, that sets their artistic, moral or intellectual compass. In short, they would recommend the book to everyone. Interview: Anne Jonker.

Sheena Patel chose Rebecca, most famous novel (1938) by British author Daphne du Maurier and the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's film of the same name, as her favourite book. While travelling in the South of France, a shy young woman falls in love with the handsome, wealthy widower Maxim de Winter. The couple marry and move to Manderley, Maxim's country house on the coast of Cornwall. There, the less desirable aspects of Maxim's character come to the fore and it seems that the ghost of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, still haunts every room.

Line-up

Anne Jonker

(1997) is an interdisciplinary PhD candidate at Leiden University. She researches individuals and groups who do not (or no longer) recognise the system or no longer wish to acknowledge it, and explores themes such as modern alienation, nostalgia and our imagination of the future. She also works at De Situatie, the literary platform of PIP The Hague. During the Writers Unlimited Festival 2026, she will be one of the interviewers for the programme Book of My Life, part of Friday Night Unlimited.
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Sheena Patel

(United Kingdom) is a writer, poet, and assistant director for film and television. Her debut novel, I'm a Fan (2022), won the Discover Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. “I stalk a woman on the internet who sleeps with the same man as me.” After this initial confession, a young woman recounts her affair with a successful, married man. When it turns out that he has several mistresses, including an insufferable influencer, she develops an obsession not only with the man, but also with his popular mistress. It culminates in a fiery story about desire, love, and an unequal power dynamic. The narrator keeps a close eye on the Instagrammer's social media and her friends minute by minute. The Guardian: “A fizzing debut that's hard to put down. Patel's searing novel skitters through a world of toxic exes, mean girls, and bad jobs—and it's addictive.”

Instagram: @imightbesheenapatel
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