Tommy Wieringa / Tommy Wieringa – The Blessed Rita

Tommy Wieringa – The Blessed Rita

Tommy Wieringa – The Blessed Rita

Rights sold

  • Scribe (United Kingdom,  Australia, New-Zealand
  • Éditions Stock (France)
  • Iperborea (Italy)
  • Brombergs (Sweden)
  • Hanser (Germany)
  • Jelenkor (Hungary)

 

Read our sample translation of The Blessed Rita 

 

About the book

His whole life, Paul Krüzen has lived with his father in an old, haunted farmhouse, not far from the German border. Where once his father took care of him, now he takes care of his father. In those fifty years, they have seen their village change drastically. The world is on the move: the Chinese now run the bars and restaurants in Mariënveen, while Russians, Bulgarians and Poles have become a familiar presence.. The great change began with a the arrival of a Russian pilot who escaped the Soviet Union in a crop duster and crashed in a cornfield behind their house at the height of the Cold War. This triggered a chain of events from which Paul Krüzen and his father have never fully recovered. The Blessed Rita is an enchanting memento for those left behind and an ode to those wanting to transcend themselves.

Praise for The Blessed Rita

‘The masterly The Blessed Rita is at once both The Great Twente Novel and completely European. [...] It tells the story of a shrinking life in a shrinking region—but Wieringa’s version of that familiar story feels like the ultimate one.’
***** NRC Handelsblad

‘It is his best book, his master hand has bested itself again. The depth is deeper, the views stretch farther. His style approaches perfection, or surpasses it.’
***** Algemeen Dagblad

Author

Tommy Wieringa (b. 1967) is the author of the best-selling novels Joe Speedboot (F. Bordewijk Prize 2006) , Caesarion (Little Caesar, shortlisted for the IMPAC Literary Award 2013) and Dit zijn de namen (These Are the Names). These Are the Names was awarded the Golden Owl Reader Prize, the Libris Literature Prize and the Golden Inktaap (a youth prize) and was shortlisted for the Premio Strega Europeo and the Gregor von Rezzori Prize.. His work has been published in more than fifteen countries and has garnered praise both at home and abroad.

© Gary Doak

Additional book information

  • novel
  • ISBN 9789023458753
  • Number of pages: 286
  • World rights: De Bezige Bij
  • Price: € 20,90
  • English sample available