STIGMATIZED

Wrongly arrested, stigmatized for life He had a calm and orderly life as a humble Friesian farmer in the nineteen fifties. A handful of cows, three young children, and a marriage of convenience he had learned to live with. Suddenly his life is turned upside down, when he is arrested and wrongly accused of sexual abuse of his six-year old neighbor girl. Once he has been picked up, the village community turns against him, and he becomes isolated. It is his word against the girl's. The net closes around him even more when additional evidence is found. In the end his wife discovers the real culprit. But by then the damage to their relationship, as well as to his reputation in the small village community is irreversible. Emigration to America under a new name seems to be the only way to save their future. The question is, can he escape the shame that has come over him? Or is he stigmatized for life? And will the rest of the family ever hear what actually happened? A breathtaking novel about the harshness of a false accusation, that covers half a century, from the nineteen fifties until the beginning of this century. Caught in the American Dream was first published in Dutch in 2009 under the title "Getekend" (Stigmatized). Anita Witzier, Dutch TV-personality, about this novel: "A mesmerizing book, that captivates from the first page, and reads like a roller coaster."