At the house on Zwartezusterstraat four very different women have made their way from Africa to claim for themselves the riches of Europe. Sisi, Ama, Efe and Joyce are prostitutes, the girls who stand in the windows of the red-light district, promising to make men’s dreams come true — if only for half an hour and fifty euros. The murder of Sisi, the most enigmatic of the women, shatters their already fragile worlds and as the women gather to mourn, the stories they have kept hidden are finally told.

Although originally written in English, On Black Sisters’ Street first appeared in Dutch translation under the title Fata Morgana, published by Antwerp- and Amsterdam-based Meulenhoff Manteau in 2007. The original English version was released by Jonathan Cape in 2009. Further editions were published by Random House (New York), Vintage (London) and Ohio University Press (in collaboration with Swallow Press).

On Black Sisters’ Street won the 2012 NLNG Prize. It has been translated into several languages, including German, Spanish, Italian and Polish.