Marieke Lucas Rijneveld

ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S TOP TEN BEST NEW BOOKS IN TRANSLATION ONE OF THE WHITE REVIEW'S BOOK OF THE YEAR The sensational Dutch bestseller: Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's extraordinary portrait of a farming family distorted by grief, translated by Michele Hutchison. I asked God if he please couldn't take my brother Matthies instead of my rabbit. 'Amen.' Ten-year-old Jas has a unique way of experiencing her universe: the feeling of udder ointment on her skin as protection against harsh winters; the texture of green warts, like capers, on migrating toads; the sound of 'blush words' that aren't in the Bible. But when a tragic accident ruptures the family, her curiosity warps into a vortex of increasingly disturbing fantasies - unlocking a darkness that threatens to derail them all. A bestselling sensation in the Netherlands, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's radical debut novel is studded with images of wild, violent beauty: a world of language unlike any other.

The Discomfort of the Evening

Meniah

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It's confusing, but grown-ups are often confusing because their heads work like a Tetris game and they have to arrange all their worries in the right place.

I've discovered that there are two ways of losing your belief: some people lose God when they find themselves; some people lose God when they lose themselves. 

People need small problems in order to feel bigger.

Ants can carry up to five thousand times their own weight. People are puny in comparison - they can barely lift their own body weight once, let alone the weight of their sorrow. 

Sadness doesn't grow, only the space it takes up. 

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