In the Dutch Mountains by Cees Nooteboom ( Signed Copy)

“A poet’s fairy tale, elegant and beguiling”(Julian Barnes) that summons up a vast Netherlands encompassing Europe’s highest peaks and a captivating pair of circus performers hunting for work. Translated by Adrienne Dixon.

In this novel he both tells the reader about the writing of the story he is currently working on, and the story itself. The story is a simple fairy tale, set in this mythical Netherlands, where circus performers Kai and Lucia, too beautiful for their own good, lose their livelihood in the friendly North and head for the very inhospitable South. They are forcibly separated, then Lucia sets out to find Kai, then there is a not unexpected ending. Suspense is definitely not one of Nooteboom’s (or Tiburón’s) ambitions.