At the end of the 19th century, in a small Belgian village called Woesten, the young Elisabeth dreams of spreading her wings to fly on her own, but when she discovers that she has become pregnant, she is forced to marry. Eight months later, she will give birth to her twins, the beautiful Valentijn, and a terribly malformed creature that her father, Dr. Guillaume, will refuse to even name. The arrival of war in 1914 will not be the only tragedy to befall the quiet Flemish village. Vesania, the first novel by Kris Van Steenberge, is an imposing narrative told from the different points of view of its four protagonists — Elisabeth, Guillaume, Valentijn, and the Unnamed — written with an elegance and mastery worthy of an established writer.