The Discomfort of Evening: WINNER OF THE BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2020

Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s debut novel The Discomfort of Evening was a bestselling sensation in the Netherlands and won the Booker International Prize 2020. It has also been selected among 2020 book lists by the Guardian, the New York Times and others, and has been described as “the most talked about debut novel of 2020 already”.

Told through the perspective of ten-year-old Jas, the story presents a distinctive way of experiencing the world, from the feel of udder ointment used against harsh winters to the texture of green warts on migrating toads, and the sound of “blush words” that are not in the Bible. After a tragic accident fractures the family, Jas’s curiosity shifts into increasingly disturbing fantasies, revealing a darkness that threatens to unbalance them all. The novel is translated by Michele Hutchison.

Key details

• Debut novel by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
• Winner of the Booker International Prize 2020
• Bestselling title in the Netherlands
• Translated by Michele Hutchison

Synopsis

Ten-year-old Jas experiences her universe through vivid physical sensations and language, noticing details such as udder ointment against winter cold, warts on migrating toads, and “blush words” absent from the Bible. When a tragic accident ruptures her family, that curiosity twists into a vortex of increasingly disturbing fantasies. As the darkness deepens, it threatens to derail them all.