‘Winter in Gloster Huis’ by Vonne van der Meer

In this futuristic novel, the Dutch parliament passes the so-called Done with Life Act in the mid-2020s. People aged 80 years and older who consider their lives complete, suffering from a life that has become too long for them – although they might be healthy –, can now opt for assisted suicide. At the same time, two brothers unexpectedly receive a huge inheritance. Richard (an advertising agent) decides to use his money to build a farewell hotel that will help perform the self-chosen death of people who are done with their lives. In response, Arthur (a psychiatrist) has a hotel built – on the other side of the lake where the farewell hotel is located – where people are actually surrounded with care and attention until they die a natural death. He calls it Gloster Huis (Gloster House), named after the character from Shakespeare’s King Lear (Gloucester) who wants to kill himself, but is saved by a trick by his son Edgar. Arthur poses as an employee of Richard’s hotel, seeking out guests with ambivalent death wishes to guide them to Gloster Huis. While Richard’s farewell hotel attracts a lot of attention and receives many guests, Gloster Huis hosts only a few. However, Richard has a problem: the guests at his hotel always arrive at an early hour, leaving them with nothing to do but wait for death (since they have already taken care of all their affairs and prepared to die, they are not very eager to use the hotel’s facilities). The brothers agree that from now on Richard’s guests, as a form of diversion, can take a boat trip to Gloster Huis and receive lunch and a tour of the house, explaining its philosophy. Those who want to, may stay. The new approach proves a success: new guests now arrive regularly at Gloster Huis.

Winter in Gloster Huis was published a few years after a Dutch citizens’ initiative proposed the Elderly Dying Assistance Review Act in 2011, which aimed to allow assisted suicide for elderly people who are not (severely) ill, but consider their lives complete. The novel’s Done with Life Act can be considered a fictional version of the actual law proposal, providing a critical examination of such a law. The text describes the appeal of assisted suicide in these situations, while also making clear that self-determined death does not come without problems: loneliness and fear (of deterioration, dependence, loss of decorum) often play a role in the desire for death. The novel contains a critique of the dehumanization of care and of society’s perception of old age. It also describes the consequences of the new Done with Life Act itself, critically assessing the effect such an Act might have on elderly people who decide to live on into old age. It is said these elderly will never be allowed to complain again about their ailments, loneliness or poverty, since they now have the option of receiving assisted suicide. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly difficult for doctors to refuse assisted suicide requests. Gloster Huis contrasts these developments: it is a residence where there is ample room for human attention and care and where guests can rediscover the meaning of their lives. In this regard, the passage from King Lear about Gloucester’s averted suicide serves as a mise-en-abyme. The boat trip to Gloster Huis represents a better “farewell” for some individuals than the farewell hotel. In parliament, a Christian Democrat MP referred to the novel as an inspiration for the political and societal discussion on dignified aging. Although the Elderly Dying Assistance Review Act received much criticism and was not passed into law, the liberal party D66 came up with a new draft of an Act on completed life in 2020, which was adjusted in 2023. The proposed new law received similar criticisms to those expressed in the novel: that older people who consider their lives completed often need mostly care and attention and that it poses risks to older people in a vulnerable position. Winter in Gloster Huis connects thematically to Bericht uit de bezemkast (Message from the broom closet), a short story by Van der Meer which was published in 1995. This story concerns a very old woman who lives in a future time in which euthanasia for elderly is very common.