TEHRAN – “The Angel Maker”, a bestseller by the Belgian novelist Stefan Brijs who writes in Dutch, has been published in Persian.

The literary page-turner about one man’s macabre ambition to create life and secure immortality has been translated by Samgis Zandi and An Amut is the publisher of the book.

The village of Wolfheim is a quiet little place until the geneticist Dr. Victor Hoppe returns after an absence of nearly twenty years.

The doctor brings with him his infant children-three identical boys all sharing a disturbing disfigurement.

He keeps them hidden away until Charlotte, the woman who is hired to care for them, begins to suspect that the triplets-and the good doctor- aren’t quite what they seem.

As the villagers become increasingly suspicious, the story of Dr. Hoppe’s past begins to unfold, and the shocking secrets that he has been keeping are revealed.

A chilling story that explores the ethical limits of science and religion, “The Angel Maker” is a haunting tale in the tradition of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Frankenstein”.

Brought to life by internationally bestselling author Brijs, this eerie tale promises to get under readers’ skin.

He writes in Dutch. “The Angel Maker” reached its 25th printing in Dutch in 2011, selling over 125,000 copies.

It won the 2006 Readers’ Golden Owl, the five-yearly Prize for Prose of the Royal Academy for Dutch Language and Literature, the 2011 Euregio Literatuurprijs and several other honors.

It was translated in English as The Angel Maker by Hester Velmans, published in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and in the U.S. by Penguin Books.

The first translation was the German translation in 2006. The French translation was published by Heloise d’Ormesson.

It was translated into Italian by Franco Paris, and published by Fazi. The Russian translation by Irina Trofimova and Vera Trenina was published by Zakharov.

The book has also been translated into Turkish and Greek in 2007, into Hungarian in 2008, into Hebrew and Spanish in 2009, and into Danish in 2011. The rights for a Chinese translation were sold in October 2011.

Photo: This combination photo shows Belgian writer Stefan Brijs and the front cover of the Persian translation of his novel “The Angel Maker”.

MMS/YAW