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All Souls' Day

Name: All Souls' Day
Author: Cees Nooteboom
ISBN: 9781529421774

by Cees Nooteboom

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Overview

All Souls' Day is an elegiac love story in which the personal histories of its characters are skilfully interwoven with the history of the countries in which they find themselves.

Synopsis

"An outstanding addition to an impressive oeuvre" Times Literary Supplement "One of the greatest modern novelists" AS Byatt "One of the most remarkable writers of our time" Alberto Manguel Arthur Daane, a documentary film-maker and inveterate globetrotter, has lost his wife and child in a plane crash. In ALL SOULS' DAY we follow him as he wanders the streets of Berlin, a city uniquely shaped by history. Berlin provides the backdrop for Daane's reflections on life as he plans his latest project - a self-funded film that will show the world through Daane's eyes. With a new circle of friends - a philosopher, a sculptor and a physicist - Arthur discusses everything from history to metaphysics, and the cumulative power of remembered images and philosophical musings on the meaning of our contemporary existence comes to permeate the atmosphere of the book. Then one cold, wintry day, Daane meets the young history student Elik Orange and his world is turned upside down. Whenever this mysterious woman beckons, Daane is compelled to follow. ALL SOULS' DAY is, finally, an elegiac love story in which the personal histories of the characters are skilfully interwoven with the history of the countries in which they find themselves. It is also the poignant and affecting tale of a man coming to terms with his place in the world. Translated from the Dutch by Susan Massotty