Top Naeff

[1] Top Naeff, the only child of strict parents, did not excel at secondary school.

She married a family doctor, but later fell passionately in love with the director and actor Willem Royaards.

[1] Naeff's first novel, School Idylls (1900), told the story of a teenage orphan, Jet van Marle, brought up by a loveless aunt and uncle.

In her first adult novel, At the Gate (1912), the protagonist Liesbeth van Landschot is frustrated by her violent passion for a man who is unaware of her feelings.

[1] Naeff reviewed plays widely for De Groene Amsterdammer.