The Remembered Soldier

Anjet Daanje (trans. David McKay)

‘A gripping story … stirring, psychologically profound, and not a page too long.’

Deutschlandfunk

‘The book is phenomenal.’

Ivo van Hove, Tony and Olivier award–winning theatre director

‘By far the best novel of recent years.’

NRC Handelsblad

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 recognises 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 telling the truth?

In The Remembered Soldier, Anjet Daanje immerses us in the psyche of a war-traumatised man who has lost his identity. When Amand comes to doubt Julienne’s word, the reader is caught up in a riveting spiral of confusion that only the greatest works of literature can achieve.

‘A gripping story … stirring, psychologically profound, and not a page too long.’

Deutschlandfunk

‘The book is phenomenal.’

Ivo van Hove, Tony and Olivier award–winning theatre director

Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:592pp

ISBN (13):9781761380136

RRP:$37.99

Pub date:3 Jun 2025

Rights Held: UK & Commonwealth (ex. Can)

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

2020 F. Bordewijk Prize - Winner 2020 Libris Literature Prize - Long-listed 2020 The Best Book of Groningen Prize - Winner

CATEGORIES / tags

AUTHOR

Anjet Daanje

Anjet Daanje, the pseudonym of Anjet den Boer, who was born in 1965, writes novels, short stories, and screenplays. The Remembered Soldier has won the top literary prizes in her native Netherlands, including the 2020 F Bordewijk Prize and the Best Book of Groningen Prize, and was longlisted for the 2020 Libris Literature Prize.

TRANSLATOR

David McKay

David McKay is an award-winning translator of Dutch fiction and nonfiction. Born and educated in the United States, he has lived in and around The Hague since 1997.

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