John B. Gieles was born in 1946 in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany. His father was a man of striking contrasts: capable of great courage and deep affection, yet also capable of making decisions that fractured the family. After his parents divorced, John and his younger sister entered children’s homes at a very young age.
At the age of four, John went to a children’s home in Antwerp. Later, his father took him away in an extraordinary escape involving a pigeon basket. Subsequently, John spent thirteen years in residential institutions for children with behavioural difficulties and children from broken families.
After completing secondary school, John studied Social Psychology at the University of Nijmegen. He then spent 33 years working at a large psychiatric hospital in Venray, the Netherlands. Today, he lives in Heemskerk.
For many years, John dreamed of writing a screenplay. Eventually, that dream took a different form. He turned his family history and personal experiences into The Fourth Gold Bar, an autofictional novel that many readers describe as cinematic.
The novel combines historical suspense with a deeply emotional father-son story inspired by true events. At the same time, it explores the lasting consequences of absence, longing and family rupture. Ultimately, at its heart lies a universal question: what happens to a child who spends a lifetime longing for the love and recognition of an absent father?
For questions, reviews or media enquiries, John can be contacted at:
john.gieles@gmail.com