Henry de Jong, your Middledom host, welcomes you to this first ever Hitchhiker’s Guide, in time to celebrate Spring, 2025. There are only a dozen subscribers yet, so feel free to help me out by sharing this email or the story if you like.

Herman de Jong (1932-2004) left dozens of stories behind, and a few novels as well. Many of these are in Dutch and have never been read by English speakers. I’m sure even the Dutch readers of CC will have forgotten them. Henry de Jong’s translations (with the help of DeepL) are waiting to be polished off and shared. Subscribe today and get these stories coming to your inbox.

Already published here, and ready to read in English, are Herman’s memoirs and a few of his poems. And if you want to enjoy the Dutch originals, they’re all available too.

The Middledom website features a growing list of memoirs, Dutch and English, with the first ever translation of my Opa Hinne de Jong’s memoirs now coming online. You can also read Henry’s blog about heritage and history.