Thirty Days. Annelies Verbeke

Thirty Days

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A UNIQUE NOVEL ABOUT GOODNESS AND COMPASSION

Alphonse is a Senegalese immigrant who uproots his life in Brussels to become a handyman in rural Flanders. Likeable and charismatic, people cannot help but reveal their secrets, desires and unexpected dreams to him. In her typically astute style, Verbeke weaves a vivid and thought-provoking tale of contemporary life, subtly touching upon timely themes such as refugees and racism. Thirty Days is a deeply moving story about love, outsiders and the human need to connect.

Praise for Thirty Days

‘This wry Belgian writer takes a sharp, very human look at how lives meander and collide. For all the serious issues it explores, it is also very funny and astute: a fearless exposé of the world we live in’

The Irish Times

‘Thirty Days is a novel about goodness and compassion. The book finds the perfect balance between sensitivity and humor, hopefulness and criticism, cheer and despair’

Flanders Literature

‘Thirty Days is a slice of life so compelling and warm that I stayed up far too late to finish it’

KATE MACDONALD, author of Anne of Green Gables Cookbook

‘A dialogue for our tough and fickle times. Read it slowly. Put it aside. Read it again’

DAVID VAN REYBROUCK, author of Congo

‘Annelies Verbeke is a literary phenomenon’

EDINBURGH BOOK FESTIVAL

‘A superb narrative. This is a Verbeke that should not be missed’

De Volkskrant

‘A courageous, inspiring, and poignant book’

De Standaard

‘A novel that for all its lightness of touch is profound, funny, serious, absurdist, and engaged’

De Groene Amsterdammer

‘Every novel by Annelies Verbeke is an adventure, but with the surprising and stunningly beautiful Thirty Days she sums up all the limitations of human existence magnificently. A masterpiece’

Feeling

‘Verbeke has a wonderful knack of bringing characters vividly to life in a few expertly chosen evocative words, through gesture, knowing looks and clever metaphors’

The Big Issue

‘Verbeke has pulled out all the stops to paint a lively story. Thirty Days is a polygonal star whose points are expertly connected’

Literair Nederland

ANNELIES VERBEKE is a writer of novels, short stories and plays. She made her literary debut in 2003 with the much-lauded novel Slaap! (‘Sleep!’), which sold over 75,000 copies and was published in 22 countries. Verbeke’s books have received numerous awards and nominations: Thirty Days was chosen as best Dutch novel of 2015 by readers of a leading Dutch newspaper, awarded the F. Bordewijk Award and Opzij Literature prize for best novel, and nominated for the ECI Literature Prize. Two years later her short story collection Halleluja was also on the shortlist of the ECI Literature Prize and won the J.M.A. Biesheuvel Prize for the best short story collection of the year. Her work has been compared to that of Katherine Mansfield. She lives in Ghent, Belgium.

After finishing her studies at the University of Manchester, LIZ WATERS (UK) worked for some years with English-language texts and at a literary agency in Amsterdam before becoming a full-time translator of literary fiction and non-fiction. Authors whose books she has translated include Linda Polman, Fik Meijer, Paul Scheffer, Lieve Joris, Jaap Scholten, Luuk van Middelaar, and Douwe Draaisma. Recently published are her translations of A Foolish Virgin by Ida Simons and The Many Lives of Jan Six by Geert Mak.

AUTHOR

‘There was a moment when I wondered if the novel’s premise was believable enough—would people really spill their secrets as soon as an emphatic handyman arrived in their home? The answer came rather serendipitously when I met Alphonse’s real-life counterpart—a Senegalese decorator and former musician—he said, “Secret-sharing is exactly what happens to me; it makes me so happy. People tell me everything and they cry.”’

TRANSLATOR

‘One of the great joys of translating this book was the challenge of conveying the dry, often absurdist humor. It was particularly important not to normalize the unexpected (a severed finger, a friendly skylark) but instead to retain the balance and contrast between the ridiculous or counter-productive things people do and the melancholy landscape of the Westhoek with its tragic history. Every sentence had to be perfectly pitched to retain that balance.’

PUBLISHER

‘Annelies Verbeke can do it all. She can interweave a variety of stories and at the same time maintain a strong sense of unity throughout. She can write about heavy themes in a lighthearted tone. She can move you to tears and make you laugh out loud. She is a great European writer.’

Annelies Verbeke

Thirty Days

Translated from the Dutch

by Liz Waters

WORLD EDITIONS

New York, London, Amsterdam

Published in the USA in 2018 by World Editions LLC, New York

Published in the UK in 2016 by World Editions Ltd., London

World Editions

New York/London/Amsterdam

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data is available.

ISBN Trade paperback 978-1-64286-005-4

ISBN E-book 978-1-64286-025-2

First published as Dertig Dagen in the Netherlands in 2015 by De Geus.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.

The translation of this book is funded by the Flemish Literature Fund (Vlaams Fonds voor de Letteren – www.flemishliterature.be)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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