Hans Warren was a prominent Dutch writer best known for his published diaries, which he kept from 1939 until he died in 2001. In addition to these revered memoirs of modern life, he was a poet, translator of Greek literature, and a novelist. S. J. Leinbach is a scholar and translator living in the Hague, Netherlands. His previous translations include Oek de Jong's novel Hoekwerda's Child.

The back door yielded to his touch, and he called out, Is anybody there?"" And once again, but nobody heard him; the radio inside drowned out everything. Hesitantly, he tripped over a threshold, stumbling his way over the wooden clogs and sacks that lay strewn across the entryway. The smell of the place was bitter, as if a lot of animals lived there. He was startled by a cat, which soundlessly slipped past him on its way outside. Again he called out but once more with no result. Then he closed the door after him and switched on his flashlight..."" - excerpt from Secretly Inside