author
C. (Cecile) Goekoop-de Jong van Beek en Donk
1866–1944
Best known for the groundbreaking novel Hilda van Suylenburg, this Dutch writer helped bring feminist ideas into mainstream fiction at the end of the nineteenth century. Her work speaks with unusual clarity about women’s education, work, and independence.
1 Audiobook
Hilda van Suylenburg
by C. (Cecile) Goekoop-de Jong van Beek en Donk
About the author
Born in Alkmaar in 1866, Cécile de Jong van Beek en Donk wrote under the name C. Goekoop-de Jong van Beek en Donk. She became one of the best-known feminist writers in the Netherlands, drawing on her privileged background and strong social concerns to write fiction that challenged the limits placed on women.
Her best-known book, Hilda van Suylenburg (1897), became an influential feminist novel. Through its story, she explored questions of women’s rights, education, professional life, and marriage, helping to spark public discussion far beyond literary circles.
After her first marriage ended, she moved to France in 1900 and later remarried in Paris. She died in Méréville, France, in 1944, but her name remains closely tied to one of the landmark novels of Dutch feminism.