IN A DARK WOOD - Softcover

Möring

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007129661 ISBN 13: 9780007129669

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2009

Synopsis

A magnificently ambitious and enthralling novel that confirms Moring’s place as one of the most significant European novelists now at work.

At the end of the Second World War, Jacob Noah emerges from the hole in the ground where he has been hiding for the past three years, and cycles madly back to his home town to find that his parents and brother have perished at the hands of the Nazis. Setting himself up as a shoemaker in the Dutch town of Assen, Noah patiently expands his business until he has become the most influential entrepreneur in the city.

But however wealthy he becomes, nothing can console him for the loss of his family and the tragedy of history.

In June 1980, on the eve of Assen's annual TT races, a despairing Noah sets off on a journey into the depths of his soul. Guided by a shabby, supernatural pedlar calling himself the 'Jew of Assen', he descends into the smoky heart of the town, a man-made hell modelled on Dis, the city in Dante's Inferno. In a rich and varied explosion of styles, fantasy and philosophical speculations, Marcel Möring leads us on a voyage through the dark heart of the twentieth century, and through a vivid exploration of loss and guilt.

About this title

Review:

from the reviews of In Babylon:

‘It’s been a while since a Continental star of fiction shone over here in the Kundera or Eco style. Moring stakes a strong claim to that role with this quite magnificent performance. Rich, Dickensian storytelling, warm and wise humour, a sweeping sense of history – a world-class performance from the new Dutch master.’ Independent

‘Immensely rewarding, instantly readable yet full of imagery, myth and magic.’ Good Book Guide

‘In Babylon is that rarest of things: a truly intelligent novel with a terrific story at its heart.’ Amazon

‘A fat, rich novel, stuffed with story, bulging with plot. Read it once then read it again.’ The Times

Synopsis:

A magnificently ambitious and enthralling novel, part Dante part Joyce, that confirms Moring's place as one of the most significant European novelists now at work. The story takes place on a single night, a Friday night in Assen, a small town in the north of the Netherlands. The annual Dutch TT motor races are being held in this town of 40,000 inhabitants, and during the races the town swells to three times its size. Our hero is a man who wanders at night through this overcrowded town, tens of thousands of people, most of them drunk and clad in leather. He hasn't been to Assen in a long while and the reason he has returned tonight is to find his first love. He loses sight of her at six o'clock that night, only to find her again twelve hours later. In A Dark Wood is a very funny take on Dante's Inferno, and loosely mimics its structure. So, when our hero finds his lost love again, after twelve hours of wandering, he has traversed the nine circles of Hell, met his past and the town's sinners, and is convinced that not only is he, or has been, in Hell, but that the wrong people are sent there.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0007129661
• ISBN 13: 9780007129669
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 458