Herman Mussert went to bed last night in Amsterdam and wakes in Lisbon in a hotel room where he slept with another man’s wife more than twenty years ago. Winner of the European Literary Prize for Best Novel, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Translated by Ina Rilke. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
"Nooteboom is one of the greatest modern novelists" (A.S. Byatt)
"The prose has such clarity, charm and lightness that you take to disorientation with pleasure" (Michael Ignatieff Sunday Times)
"Sharp, elegant prose... It recalls, in tone, Vladimir Nabokov. The language is, by turns, delicately allusive and rich, even ripely comic" (D. J. Enright Times Literary Supplement)
"Nooteboom has shown himself a master of ironic wisdom, but also of elated, elegiac feeling. Intricately composed and finely translated, The Following Story will still be delivering after many readings" (Ben Rogers Independent on Sunday)
"Nooteboom writes beautifully. His prose is clean and precise without feeling sparse, and he manages to combine clarity with intense lyricism - Part travelogue, part love story, this is an exquisite novel" (Rebecca Abrams Guardian)