Interview: Vince Piessens
Phil M. Shirley talks to Flemish author Vince Piessens about chemistry, working on a farm in Costa Rica, old flames and his new book, Searching for Adeline. When Vince Piessens was just fourteen, he landed his dream job reviewing video games for a gaming blog. “A friend of mine mentioned my love for writing and gaming to them, and they reached out to see if I wanted to give it a shot,” he recalls with a chuckle. “The perk? You get a free game for each review, and at fourteen, I thought, ‘Great! I can play even more games for free!’ So, I started writing. My early work wasn’t very good, but the editor-in-chief, who was studying journalism, took me under his wing. He taught me a lot about sentence structure and how to develop my writing skills, and it all just grew from there.” It’s a revealing anecdote, speaking to Piessens’ passion for writing that makes you feel something, but also to his open-mindedness and willingness to master a trade. It’s one of many anecdotes the blogger turned chemist turned novelist regales me with from our meeting place Mazette, a cooperative café-brasserie located in a square in the heart of the Marolles district of the City of Brussels. After his journalism stint, Piessens found himself eager to write more, but he wasn’t keen on returning to journalism. Instead, he turned to fiction. “At first, writing longer pieces was challenging,” he recalls, “but I quickly became immersed in it.” During this time, the young Flemish writer was also wrapping up his chemistry thesis, which focused on bioplastics. “I had about a month of free time before heading off on holiday, and I wanted to make the most of it,” he says. “I began writing again, sharing my work with a couple of friends who were eager to read along and discuss it. They, too, were completing their internships related to our theses and would soon be moving away. I was determined to finish my story before they left so I could gift it to them.” The result was a short story titled The Last Day, about a young boy who finds himself lost on the coast of Spain. Piessens’ latest work, Searching for Adeline, was crafted during a transformative period spent working on a farm in Costa Rica, where he had no internet access. “The afternoons were too hot to work, so I would sit at my laptop, listening to podcasts about politics and other subjects. I met many inspiring people there, and their stories fuelled my creativity.” He gathered various ideas as a foundation for his novel and spent about three years developing it, allowing the diverse inspirations he encountered along the way to weave naturally into the narrative. Piessens’ shrewd and provocative debut novella follows the fate of a wealthy but disillusioned older man, Adam Wilson, on an impulsive journey to find an old flame who has gone missing on the other side of the world in a highly secretive and post-totalitarian country. One day, while watching the news, he discovers that an old acquaintance and former flame has gone missing. This revelation sparks a sense of urgency within him; he feels compelled to help them, as it seems like the right thing to do. This journey not only leads him to assist someone in need but also prompts him to reevaluate his own life. The novel explores a well-known sentiment, an idea that reflects how many of us feel unfulfilled, losing touch with our true selves. “In my view, a strong message in this story is that we often hope for a crisis or a dramatic event to give our lives meaning and reignite our passions,” Piessens says. “The protagonist is a successful man who doesn’t need to get involved in this situation, yet he finds himself drawn into a predicament he could easily avoid. It’s almost a relief for him, as he waits for a catalyst—something that might give him a reason to truly live again. Life can sometimes pull us along, making us feel stuck. We may find ourselves making choices less actively, until an opportunity presents itself. He jumps into action without any real incentive, but this chance allows him to rediscover his purpose. “Can it be that sometimes our lives must be completely shaken up and rearranged to guide us to where we’re meant to be? We all have a mission on this earth, and figuring out what that mission is takes time. Ultimately, aren’t we all seeking something beyond our current existence? At some point in our lives, many of us have dreamed of a different reality. The allure of a new and better life might make us willing to risk losing our current one entirely. Yet, part of us often hopes for an end, believing that it might lead to something greater.” A portion of Searching for Adeline is set in London, as the protagonist shares his memories of the woman he quickly fell in love with. These nostalgic reflections include several references to the city. One of my favourite passages is when the protagonist Adam Wilson, as a young version of himself, comes across a cafe-bar, the very place where he would first meet Adeline. The Dusty Bookshelf, as the place had been called, had been one of an ancient and arcane beauty. The walls had been made up of rows upon rows of books of every shape, size, and age imaginable. On the ceiling there used to be a mural of Aphrodite in her clam shell, so exquisitely painted that it convinced me of being the perfect mix between Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel and Botticelli’s masterpiece, the Birth of Venus, only with more charm to the whole thing, charm expressed through flaking and dust. The wooden floorboards had made a satisfying creak as I’d shifted my weight from one foot to the other, marveling at the incredible range of plants filling every nook and cranny of the room. There
