The Remembered Soldier

Summary

National Book Award Finalist, Translated Literature "Haunting, powerful..."—The New York Times "The phenomenal English-language debut from Daanje weaves an affecting love story through a tangle of memories and dreams . . . The complex and layered narrative is as moving as it is unsettling, and it will keep readers wondering about the truth long after the final page. It's a remarkable achievement."—Publishers Weekly (Starred review) "An epic, extraordinary story of love, identity and war, Anjet Daanje's first novel in English is a powerfully vivid portrait of two people dealing with their changed lives after the first world war . . . David McKay's page-turning translation faithfully conveys the propulsive nature of Daanje's long, sinuous sentences . . . Virtuoso stuff."—The Financial Times "Daanje ... is currently the Netherlands' most celebrated writer. Her achievement is to bring us so close to her characters, and for so long an exposure, that they seem emotionally naked, utterly human in their efforts and deceptions. In its dangerous admixture of truth and reassembled reality, The Remembered Soldier develops an unforgettable picture of marital love."—The Wall Street Journal An extraordinary love story and a captivating novel about the power of memory and imagination. Flanders 1922. After serving as a soldier in the Great War, Noon Merckem has lost his memory and lives in a psychiatric asylum. Countless women, responding to a newspaper ad, visit him there in the hope of finding their spouse who vanished in battle. One day a woman, Julienne, appears and recognizes Noon as her husband, the photographer Amand Coppens, and takes him home against medical advice. But their miraculous reunion doesn’t turn out the way that Julienne wants her envious friends to believe. Only gradually do the two grow close, and Amand’s biography is pieced together on the basis of Julienne’s stories about him. But how can he be certain that she’s telli