Down the rabbit hole
A female-centred short-story novel about the dark and twisted lives of girls and women

‘Down the rabbit hole’ is a gripping short-story novel about various gruesome aspects of the lives of girls and women. It explores themes such as coming-of-age, family relations, trauma, mental health and substance use. The female gaze adds a realistic touch, meaning various stories can be emotionally challenging. Some stories air a dark fairytale-like feeling, others employ an activistic tone, while most make you feel like you are stuck in a very twisted version of Alice in Wonderland. It’s a raw and thought-provoking novel and, while humorous at times, the ominous darkness will follow the reader through every story.

Nadine van der Voorde grew up in a small city in the Netherlands with her parents and cats. She moved to The Hague in 2015, when she started her Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences: Global Challenges. In 2021 she finished her Master’s degree in Medical and Health Psychology, after which she started working as a behavioral scientist for people with intellectual disabilities. Her dream to write a novel never faded and in 2023 she published her debut novel ‘Down the rabbit hole.’

When I reach the counter, I feel like I can crash down any second but then the sounds become clearer and I hear Sarah pleading. I see how she is bent over the table. With her pants around her ankle, and her underwear curled below her butt. She lies flat on the table with her tummy. Her dad standing behind her, holding something I can’t see. It is so blurry. I hear her yelling getting louder. I hear her pleading change, while I grab two empty bottles from the left side of the trash. I hurry back and then I see what he is holding. How long have I been out? How slow have I walked? Where the fuck did he get that so fast? The fireplace is at the end of this room, and in his state, it must have taken him a few solid minutes to get that poke and heat it up. Then I smell the air and realise how he could have heated the poke up so fast. Fire! The kitchen wall was blocking my view but this I will not be able to unsee ever again. I run towards him with all I have in me, bottles up high, smashing them on his back. Glass splinters everywhere. I know from the movies that I watched that I need to finish this by hitting him in his back with the two broken bottles of which the necks are still in my hands. So before he turns around, only after he let out a growl, I stick these bottles into his back, like I would do with my mobile phone charger in a socket. He howls. He turns around like a dog trying to bite his own tail. He tries to assess the damage he cannot see but solely feel.