Queen Mathilde recommends books for Queen Camilla’s Reading Room

The Queen of the Belgians has joined the Queen’s Reading Room, founded by Queen Camilla, and has given her book recommendations.

Her book recommendations are:

The Burgundians by Bart van Loo

She said, “Belgian author Bart Van Loo brings the powerfully evocative middle ages to life. In a very colourful and entertaining style he tells the reader how the dukes of Burgundy shaped what we know as the Low Countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the north of France. He succeeds in transforming the historical characters into real flesh-and-blood people you would love to have known. Do not be put off by the 600 pages; this book reads like a thriller.”

Celebration of the Everyday by Colette Nys-Mazure

She said, “Colette Nys-Masure’s wonderful book invites us to appreciate the little things in our lives, because in the routine of everyday life, we are often elsewhere, absent from ourselves, deaf to the continuous miracle that is our ordinary life. I hope her lesson in hope appeals to you as much as it did to me.”

Those Who Forget by Géraldine Schwarz

She said, “In ‘Those Who Forget’, Géraldine Schwarz dares to evaluate her family tree by retelling her family history. Winner of the European Book Prize 2018, this book questions our European past and present. It invites us to reflect upon how nations should deal with collective guilt, and how to ensure we remember. This is a book you are likely to discuss with family and friends, or in class.”