De zevende hemel is the name of a neighborhood café. In that café Lize comes home after a long stay in Australia where her father had an important position at a large factory. When Lize said goodbye to her playmate Mazzel she was an innocent little girl. When Lize sees Mazzel again she expects to find the same Mazzel, but when she sees him again he is a complete stranger to her.
Simone Schell is a Dutch writer of children’s books. She was born in 1943 in Leiden as Simone den Heeteren. She left school early and worked as an au pair in England and France. After her marriage, she decided to pursue her literary ambitions. She debuted in 1973 with Juffrouw Jonathan, a humorous story about a group of elderly people who form an action committee to save their recreation building. She received two Gouden Griffels (Golden Pens), the highest Dutch award for children’s literature, for De nacht van de heksenketelkandij (1974) and Zeezicht (1979). She also wrote historical novels, fairy tales, and biographies of Australian writers: Marjorie Barnard and M. Barnard Eldershaw (1973) and Frank Dalby Davidson (1979).
Annelies Schoth is a Dutch illustrator and graphic designer. She was born in 1948 in Amsterdam. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and worked as a freelance illustrator for various publishers, magazines, and newspapers. She illustrated several books by Simone Schell, such as De wondere wereld van Blauw (1975), De zevende hemel (1977), and Rommel op reis (1980). She also illustrated books by other authors, such as Annie M.G. Schmidt, Paul Biegel, and Thea Beckman .
