Description

Book Synopsis
Longlisted for the International Man Booker Prize

A New York Times Top 10 Best Book of the Year

An Economist Best Book of the Year

Longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award

The story of Urbain Martien lies con­tained in two notebooks he left behind when he died. In War and Turpentine, his grandson, a writer, retells his grandfather’s story, the notebooks providing a key to the locked chambers of Urbain’s memory.

But who is he, really? There is Urbain the child of a lowly church painter; Urbain the young man, who narrowly escapes death in an iron foundry; Urbain the soldier; and Urbain the man, married to his true love's sister, haunted by the war and his interrupted dreams of life as an artist. Wrestling with this tale, the grandson straddles past and present, searching for a way to understand his own part in both. As artfully rendered as a Rena

War and Turpentine

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    A Paperback / softback by Stefan Hertmans, David McKay

    £14.45

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      Book details

      Publisher Random House USA Inc
      Published 25 July 2017
      ISBN-13 9781101872116
      978-1101872116
      ISBN-10 110187211X

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Longlisted for the International Man Booker Prize

      A New York Times Top 10 Best Book of the Year

      An Economist Best Book of the Year

      Longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award

      The story of Urbain Martien lies con­tained in two notebooks he left behind when he died. In War and Turpentine, his grandson, a writer, retells his grandfather’s story, the notebooks providing a key to the locked chambers of Urbain’s memory.

      But who is he, really? There is Urbain the child of a lowly church painter; Urbain the young man, who narrowly escapes death in an iron foundry; Urbain the soldier; and Urbain the man, married to his true love's sister, haunted by the war and his interrupted dreams of life as an artist. Wrestling with this tale, the grandson straddles past and present, searching for a way to understand his own part in both. As artfully rendered as a Rena

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