If I had to give a definition of happiness, it would be this: happiness is sufficient to itself, it doesn’t need any witnesses. They make us feel as if nothing is fixed, as if even the dinner appointment is a mistake and we’re just out with the two of us. But I hardly ever call her my wife – now and then when speaking officially, in sentences like “My wife can’t come to the telephone at the moment,” or “My wife really was sure that she had booked a room with a sea view.” On evenings like this Claire and I cherish the moments in which we are alone together. Her parents had named her Marie Claire, but later Claire didn’t like having exactly the same name as a magazine. “Or more precisely, if we go now, we’re going to be right on time.” My wife – I should stop saying that.

Shining on the façade of the bar was the warm, red-and-white neon sign advertising the brand of beer they served inside. I had wrapped my arm around my wife’s waist, her hand was somewhere under my coat. That led us past the bar where I hadn’t wanted to meet Serge. If the murder at the cash machine is revealed, it will cost him his political career.As the restaurant is only a few streets from our house, we walked. According to the latest opinion polls Serge Lohman is set to become the new prime minister of the Netherlands in a few months. The father of the other boy, Rick, the ‘hanger on’, is Paul’s brother Serge. He feels responsible for his son’s behaviour. He recognises a lot of himself in Michel, not lastly his proclivity for violence. Paul wants to protect his son at all costs. The narrator of the story is Paul Lohman Michel’s father. These sons, Michel and Rick, have committed a heinous crime after a school party. They make small talk about subjects like the latest films and their holiday plans, before getting to the issue at hand: their sons’ future.

Two married couples go out for dinner at a chic restaurant.

How far does this parental protection go when this child has done something that cannot possibly be justified – something that can ruin his life, that can put him in prison for years? How far are you prepared to go as a parent to protect your own child?

The dinner by herman koch