“So this is incredibly dedicated work,” thinks De Coster. “He definitely put a lot of work into it. He’s someone who went to work with total enthusiasm and fascination.”
We don’t know how many manuscripts the thief actually got hold of in the end. “Suppose, for example, I got Sally Rooney’s manuscript, then that’s also a bit of a disappointment for that publisher, of course. Trust is very important in the publishing world – you submit new versions. If a person stands between them and they can obtain such a manuscript is a source of embarrassment for the publishing house itself.”
What we do know is that there are hundreds and hundreds of titles involved. “I saw a list,” says De Coster. “It’s huge. From the greatest to the most obscure writers.”
