A deceiving simplicity orbits Marja Pruis’ insightful writing, which, ranging from novels to columns and essays, centre on the livelihoods of (modern) women and explore recurring themes of shame, intimacy and love. Gathering her emotions and displaying them with an unadorned, bare honesty in a compilation of essays titled Genoeg over mij (Enough about me, 2017) was a way for Marja to clothe herself in a narrative that dealt with the complexities of human emotion. Something the condition of novel writing – ‘being no one at all’ – rarely affords.