Lit in Translation

The Detour

De omweg

Gerbrand Bakker (born 1962)

Translated by David Colmer

English editions

In English

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Agnes, who taught at a Dutch university, has walked out on her job, her marriage and the doctorate about Emily Dickinson she was writing, and rented a lonely old house in the wet, wintry hills of Wales. What made her run is only hinted at: trouble with a student, possibly, or bad news about her health. She settles in slowly, feeding the geese in the field, getting to know her landlord and a doctor who never stops smoking, and working in the garden. Far away in Amsterdam her husband, helped by a sympathetic policeman, decides to come and find her.

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About the book

Form
Novel
Length
235 pages in the original
Set in
United Kingdom
First published
2010 by Cossee
Author's age
48 when first published
ISBN

9789059362949 (original)

9781846555442 (Harvill Secker, United Kingdom)

9781921942457 (Scribe, Australia)

9780099563679 (Vintage, United Kingdom)

9780143122678 (Penguin Books, United States)

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