Copyright

First published in 2020
by Faber & Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House,
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA

First published in Dutch by Atlas Contact, Amsterdam, in 2018

This ebook edition first published in 2020

The right of Marieke Lucas Rijneveld to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Cover design by Faber
Illustration references original photo by Emilio Blizzi / Millennium

Epigraph quotations: (top) appears on a statue of Maurice Gilliams in Antwerp (source unknown); (bottom) from ‘Spring’ in The Collected Poems of Jan Wolkers, published as Verzamelde gedichten in 2008 by De Bezige Bij

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

ISBN 978–0–571–34938–8

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Dutch Foundation for Literature