Rolien, the youngest of three sisters, is not taken seriously by her siblings. She feels left out and therefore makes up her own playmate Ralien to keep her company. This ultimately takes over her life. When the book was fi rst published, the press thought it was dangerous because of its display of the many layers of female friendship. Even today, Rolien and Ralien remains a fascinating coming-of-age novel. It has been referred to as the fi rst female Bildungsroman and a high point of Dutch LGBTQ-literature

'We should thank Mendels for her choice to leave all too schematic divisions between Rolien and Ralien out of the narrative – it is beautiful how she lets them merge into one another instead. A lesser mind would have let organizing talent overrule the thoughts and feelings, a disease of our time, which doesn’t help the ambiguity of our (debut)novels. Mendels preferred to speak of her listenership, instead of her authorship. It shows: all of her scenes sound, like they are about to go on stage.' - NRC