Tonio

a requiem memoir
Adri van der Heijden (trans. Jonathan Reeder)

‘Raw; hard, but beautiful.’

De Standard

'A monument to love and suffering: the author A.F.Th. van der Heijden has written a requiem for his son. Tonio is one of the most powerful, compelling expressions of the human spirit in the face of its opposite, death and the void.'

Die Welt

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‘Astonishing. Van der Heijden has produced a moving, virtuoso memorial to his son.’

Het Parool

Winner of the 2012 Libris Literature Prize — the Dutch equivalent of the Booker Prize — and a bestseller in Holland and Germany, this is a mesmerising rendition of grief and love.

On Pentecost 2010, Tonio — the only son of writer Adri van der Heijden — is hit by a car. He dies of his injuries that same day. Tonio is only 21. His parents are faced with the monstrous task of forging ahead with their lives in the knowledge that their only child will never again come home, never again stop by just to catch up, never again go out shopping with his mother and bitch about passers-by, never again ask his father: 'Did you work well today?' Never again.

Adri van der Heijden is driven by two compelling questions: what happened to Tonio during the final days and hours before the accident, and how could this accident happen? This search takes in various eyewitnesses, friends, police officers, doctors, and the mysterious Jenny — who turns out to have played a crucial role in Tonio's life during those final weeks.

‘Raw; hard, but beautiful.’

De Standard

Die Welt

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:544pp

ISBN (13):9781925228076

RRP:£20.00

Pub date:10 Sep 2015

Rights Held: World English

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AUTHOR

Adri van der Heijden

Adri van der Heijden (b. 1951) is one of Holland’s greatest and most highly awarded authors. His œuvre consists mainly of two sagas: The Toothless Time and Homo Duplex. He has also written four other requiems, one of which about his father’s death, His Father’s Ashes. Tonio won three of Holland’s most prestigious literary awards: the Constantijn Huygens Prize, the 2012 Libris Literature Prize, and the 2012 NS Reader’s Award for the Best Book of the Year. It has been a major bestseller in Holland and in Germany, and this edition marks its first appearance in English.

TRANSLATOR

Jonathan Reeder

Jonathan Reeder, a native of New York and longtime resident of Amsterdam, enjoys a dual career as a literary translator and performing musician. Alongside his work as a professional bassoonist, he translates opera libretti and essays on classical music, as well as contemporary Dutch fiction. Literary translations include Conny Braam’s WWI novel The Cocaine Salesman, Peter Buwalda’s bestseller Bonita Avenue and the comic thriller A Sleepless Summer by Bram Dehouck.