The Detour
The new novel, set in the UK, from the author of the Impac Prize-winning bestseller The Twin. A Dutch woman, a university English lecturer researching the work of Emily Dickinson, rents a farm in remote, rural Wales. When she arrives, there are ten geese living on the farm, but one by one they...
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The new novel, set in the UK, from the author of the Impac Prize-winning bestseller The Twin. A Dutch woman, a university English lecturer researching the work of Emily Dickinson, rents a farm in remote, rural Wales. When she arrives, there are ten geese living on the farm, but one by one they disappear. Perhaps it's the work of a local fox. The reason for her move abroad gradually becomes clear: her husband is trying to track her down. Having confessed to an affair with one of her students in Amsterdam, she has quietly fled to Wales from a situation that had become unbearable. Her husband contacts the police and teams up with a detective to go and look for her. They board the ferry to Hull on Christmas Eve. But in the meantime, the woman increasingly seems to be losing her grip on the situation. Gerbrand Bakker has made the territories of isolation, inner turmoil and the solace offered by the natural world his own. The Detour is a gripping and subtle new novel.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9781846555442 (1846555442)
Publish date: April 23rd 2012
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Pages no: 240
Edition language: English
bookshelves: impac-longlist, published-2010, one-penny-wonder, paper-read, britain-wales, dutch, autumn-2013, translation, bucolic-or-pastoral, lit-richer, ouch, medical-eew, lifestyles-deathstyles, dog-steals-the-show, plague-disease Read on November 19, 2013 aka Ten White GeeseDescription: A D...
This book. I don't even know how to describe what happened exactly especially because the ending was sort of vague (or I am really stupid). Emilie is a disgraced academic who leaves the Netherlands after a failed affair with a student. She doesn't tell her parents or her husband where she is going, ...
Is this ever a confusing book. But beautifully written as well. I can't quite figure out what I feel and think about this one right upon finishing it. Except that that Dutch poem at the end brought tears to my eyes. And, perhaps, that I think the UK title, "The Detour", is more fitting than this US ...
A woman, calling herself Emily, has fled Amsterdam and rented a remote farm in Wales. Spending most of her time by herself, avoiding others as best she can, she doesn’t quite get around to continuing her research project on Emily Dickinson. Instead she starts improving her surroundings and keeping a...