The Dream Room - Hardcover

Möring, Marcel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007129688 ISBN 13: 9780007129683

Verlag: Flamingo, 2002

Inhaltsangabe

Nostalgic, elegiac story about a Dutch family in the 1960s and their journey from innocence to experience

The story of a family – mother, father (ex-WWII pilot), twelve-year-old son, David – who live above a toy shop in a small town on the windswept Dutch coast.

On the same day that David finds himself listening to the toy shop owner complaining that he can’t sell model aeroplane kits any more because kids nowadays are too lazy to glue all the pieces
together, David’s father quits his job in a fit of pique and pride. A few hours later, his mother comes
home, having left her job too.

So, David devises a plan – and before the day is over the whole family is at home, putting model aeroplanes together. A wonderful, perfect summer ensues, suddenly interrupted by the arrival of an unexpected visitor, his father’s old friend from the war. His arrival revives old feelings of loyalty, love and hatred – and ensures that nothing will ever return to a perfect state again.

Accessible, warm, funny and wise, this novel was a massive bestseller in Moring’s native Holland. A gem of a story, it has the fable-like appeal of a Miss Garnet’s Angel (but without the middle-Englandness) or of Bernard Schlink’s The Reader (but without the heavy moral overtone).The book is most reminiscent of J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country, the Booker Prize-winning English novel set just after WWI, heavy with nostalgia, evocative, melancholy.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Holland’s most famous author, Marcel Möring, was born in 1957 in Enschede, and he now lives in Rotterdam. He decided to become a writer at the age of thirteen.

After studying Dutch literature for two years and writing and directing plays, Möring published his aclaimed first novel, ‘Mendels Erfenis’ in 1990. His second, ‘Het Grote Verlangen’ (‘The Great Longing’) won the AKO Prize, the Dutch equivalent of the Booker Prize, and sold over 100,000 copies in the Netherlands alone.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Twelve-year-old David lives with his mother and father above a toy shop in a small Dutch town. On the same day that the toy shop owner complains yet again that he can't sell model aeroplane kits any more because kids nowadays are too lazy to glue all the pieces
together, David's father – an ex-WWII pilot – quits his job for the umpteenth time. A few hours later, his mother comes home, having left her job too.

So, David devises a plan – and before the day is over the whole family is at home, putting model aeroplanes together for the toy shop owner to sell. A long, rainy Dutch summer ensues, in which mother, father and son work alongside each other; they've never been so close, never felt so secure. Then one night, David hears his father's voice, full of surprise and the next morning there's a visitor at the breakfast table, Humbert Cole, an old wartime friend. The unexpected arrival of this charming and worldly man revives old feelings of loyalty, love and hatred – and ensures that nothing will ever return to a perfect state again

"Evocative and moving…told with convincing passion"
SCOTSMAN

"A Haunting novel about three rootless siblings…told with disquieting subtlety and surprising detail."
ESQUIRE

"A fat, rich novel, stuffed with story, bulging with plot. Read it once, then read it again."
THE TIMES

"A magnificent novel. Rich Dickensian storytelling, warm and wise humour: a world-class performance from the new Dutch master."
INDEPENDENT

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Flamingo
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2002
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0007129688
• ISBN 13: 9780007129683
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 128
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar