Richard Frost (pseudonym of R. F. de Vries) was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He studied at the University of Groningen, where he completed his MSc in demography in 1986. He went on to become a researcher in sociology and an editor of academic texts. In 2010 Frost received an MA degree (cum laude) in English Language and Culture from the Radboud University, Nijmegen. He will soon start a PhD on biography and the Victorian novel.

 

Brought up in both Frisian and Dutch, and since his teens fluent in English as well, when beginning his career as a novelist, Frost decided to express himself in English, whose rhythm and sound appeal to him most. “I simply fell in love with the language from the word go,” says Frost. “I tried writing fiction in Dutch, but somehow it didn’t really work. When my characters speak to me, they speak English.”

 

In 2000, Frost’s first novel was published by Allison and Busby, London, to critical acclaim. Set in the Dutch city of Groningen, Brain and Body tells the story of Jip, a young boy who becomes the victim of a savage attack in a public toilet. Left brain-damaged, and suffering from memory loss, Jip finds himself more vulnerable than ever. Read more.

 

Brain and Body was short-listed for the Amazon.co.uk Writers’ Awards 2000 (judges: Alain de Botton, Zadie Smith, and Sarah Waters). To order the book online, or read the e-version, please click here 

 

Frost has recently completed The Long and the Short of It, a novel which moves away from the terse, direct style of Brain and Body, and focuses on a different period. Frost: “Being such an ardent fan of Victorian literature, I wanted to write a book that felt 19th-century both in design and content. The work had to be postponed for quite a while – four years, to be exact - but fortunately, the story was so alive to me, it was still there waiting to be penned down when I could finally get back to my writing.” Frost also made illustrations for this novel, including the one featuring on the cover.

 

Set in 1880s England, The Long and the Short of It relates how John Holland, a wealthy banker’s son, experiences a severe social setback when the family empire collapses. He becomes secretary to Sir Sidney Althane, a famous man of letters and the owner of Sutton Hall. A great admirer of Sir Sidney and his works, John soon finds that things at the Hall are not quite what they seem. Or are they? And where is the unique medieval manuscript Sir Sidney claims to own, which John so desperately wants to see? Read more.

 

Extracts from the new novel can be found here.

Apart from being a novelist, Richard Frost is also a painter and a drawing artist. See some of his paintings. Frost lives with his partner in Groningen, the Netherlands.