Marente
de Moor
2013 | Publisher: Querido
Roundhay, garden scene
"On September 16, 1890, a man took the train from Dijon to Paris, after that, nothing was ever heard from him again."
Thus, in the first sentence of 'Roundhay, Garden Scene', the main character, an inventor, disappears. In his luggage are fully developed ideas, ready to be patented. But along the way, doubt creeps in. Do his thoughts truly belong to him? And can he take responsibility for the consequences of his invention? In the new century, his son searches for him and discovers who benefited from the disappearance, but also how difficult it has become to truly vanish without a trace.
'Roundhay, Garden Scene' is a tragicomic, wistful novel about our growing desire to capture things for posterity and a son's desperate attempt to make a good impression on a vanished father. The story is based on the life of Louis Le Prince (1842 - ?), the inventor who made the film 'Roundhay Garden Scene' years before Edison and Lumière came out with their moving images.
Shortlist Libris Literature Prize 2014
German
"A grand structure of ideas. De Moor has woven a phenomenal web."
- NRC Handelsblad
"De Moor takes you on a train journey to the light of the first filmmakers but along the way firmly points out shadows in the landscape that you hadn't seen. Breathtaking. A world-class book."
- De Limburger
"Such a wonderful narrative tone. Calm, light-footed, transparent, she evokes images of the uncanny and shadowy. A thrilling, clever, and seductive novel."
- Süddeutsche Zeitung
"Roundhay, Garden Scene stands out with its razor-sharp style and sculpted sentences. A perfect Hamlet."
- Financieel Dagblad