He had sat staring at the radio, and then tuned in to the B.B.C., where it was claimed that repeated warnings had been given to Stalin and the Russians. He did not believe it. Of course they hadn’t given out warnings, it was the last thing they would do. What better than to have Germany fighting on two fronts? It was to Britain’s advantage that Russia was now involved, and he had no doubt that Churchill was rejoicing. Would he come on the radio, Oscar wondered, and would Morton be with him?
He had not spoken again with Lara, but she was imprinted on his every movement. Returning from Fribourg he had even stood for a while across the street from the home of his Swedish colleague Henderson, thinking: if I ring the doorbell now I can give a last-minute warning, and who knows, throw a tiny spanner in the works of the Wehrmacht. He had not acted upon the thought.
Oscar wandered aimlessly on, away from the radio broadcast. The first early hikers, sturdily shod and bearing rucksacks, crossed his path.
OTTO DE KAT is the pen name of Dutch publisher, poet, novelist and critic Jan Geurt Gaarlandt. His highly acclaimed novels have been widely published in Europe, and
INA RILKE is the prize-winning translator of books by Cees Nooteboom, W. F. Hermans, Erwin Mortier, Louis Couperus, Hella Haasse and Adriaan Van Dis.
First published in the Netherlands as
First published in Great Britain in 2014
MacLehose Press
An imprint of Quercus Editions Ltd
55 Baker Street
7th Floor, South Block
London
WIU 8EW
Copyright © Otto de Kat 2012 English translation copyright © Ina Rilke 2014
This book was published with the support of The Dutch Foundation for Literature
The moral right of Otto de Kat to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
Ina Rilke asserts her moral right to be identified as the translator of the work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN (HB) 978 0 85705 268 1
ISBN (Ebook) 978 1 84866 233 9
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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