“Gerbrand Bakker joins a long list of eminent novelists to win this award and having a novel in translation as the winner, means that this beautifully written Dutch novel will come to the attention of readers world-wide, who might otherwise never have come across it. Dublin City Council and IMPAC are extremely proud that the IMPAC DUBLIN Award has grown into one of the highlights, not only of the Irish, but also of the international literary calendar.”
Lord Mayor and Patron of the Award, Cllr. Emer Costello
“Though rich in detail, it’s a sparely written story, with the narrator’s odd small cruelties, laconic humour and surprising tendernesses emerging through a steady, well-paced, unaffected style.
The book convinces from first page to last. With quiet mastery the story draws in the reader. The writing is wonderful: restrained and clear, and studded with detail of farm rhythms in the cold, damp Dutch countryside. The author excels at dialogue, and Helmer’s inner story-telling voice also comes over perfectly as he begins to change everything around him. There are intriguing ambiguities, but no false notes. Nothing and no one is predictable, and yet we believe in them all: the regular tanker driver, the next door neighbour with her two bouncing children, and Jaap, the old farm labourer from the twins’ childhood who comes back to the farm in time for the last great upheaval, as Helmer finally takes charge of what is left of his own life.”
