Polleke

In Polleke’s neighbourhood you’ll find Moroccan Berbers, a few Dutch families, junkies, drop-outs, punks, hippies and a whole range of other strange characters. Eleven-year-old Polleke’s best friend is Caro, but she is in love with Mimoen, a Moroccan boy she has known ever since she was small. Mimoen’s family are against the pair’s friendship because they have long since arranged his marriage to an Islamic girl. However, Polleke’s real problems lie elsewhere: her father, Spiek, lives in the same neighbourhood and is heavily addicted to drugs. Polleke thinks of him as an unrecognised poet. It would appear that Polleke’s mother has nothing better to do than fall in love with Polleke’s teacher, Wouter. Although Mimoen and Polleke part company ostensibly, they still meet up in secret. The pressure on these two becomes almost too much to bear and they have to be very careful about how and when they see each other. The only time Polleke finds any time for herself is when she goes to visit her grandparents who live on a small farm. Sometimes, Polleke dreams of being able to live with them permanently. Then, all at once, the summer holidays are upon them. Mimoen goes to Morocco to visit his family, while Polleke accompanies her father on a cure for drug addicts. As soon as the treatment is over, Spiek disappears to Nepal with his new girlfriend, Ina. With her friends all away, her mother hopelessly in love and her father off travelling, it’s a long and lonely summer for Polleke. Eventually, the holidays come to an end and, one day, Polleke catches sight of Caro kissing Mimoen. But this by no means all. In fact, it is only the beginning of a very hard time for Polleke.