Toon Kortooms Omnibus - The Small Emigration - This Black Gold

1. The Little Emigration (1955)

This story revolves around a topical theme from the 1950s: the urge (and sometimes necessity) for young farmers' sons to emigrate to countries like Canada or Australia, because there was too little agricultural land and future prospects in their own country. In his characteristic style - with laughter and tears - Kortooms describes how the main characters struggle with letting go of their familiar homeland, family ties, and love.

2. This Black Gold (1962)

"The black gold" is a direct and poetic reference to peat. The story logically takes place in the rugged, mysterious Peel bog, where peat cutting was for decades the most important (and hardest) source of income for the poor population. The novel paints a beautiful, nostalgic picture of the harsh working life, the solidarity, the deep hierarchy in the village, and the idiosyncratic inhabitants of the Peel.