In het Schemeruur

In the quiet village of Schootwerve a hidden garden blooms behind a holly hedge, its shell‑sand paths weaving among flower‑filled beds, and at its centre rests a patched‑together figure of a smoking Moor, repaired with a wooden hand and pipe by the village carpenter. Children rush there each spring, shouting “I’ve seen Jan met de pijp!” as the odd sculpture becomes the season’s most beloved sight. Behind the green‑clad walls the old Van Laeken’s ivy‑covered house stands, its quiet rooms even suitable for birds to nest in the eaves.

The house’s owner, a widower born in Antwerp at the turn of the 19th century, survived Napoleon’s blockade through clever trading, though he never learned a craft himself. His restless son George leaves school early, wandering the quay until a ship‑wright offers him an apprenticeship aboard the warship La France. The story follows George’s first steps onto deck, where the promise of the sea hints at a new future.