The assault

Harry Mulisch

£10.99

It is the winter of 1945, the last dark days of World War II in occupied Holland. A Nazi collaborator, infamous for his cruelty, is assassinated as he rides home on his bicycle. The Germans retaliate by burning down the home of an innocent family; only twelve-year-old Anton survives. Based on actual events, The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this horrific incident on Anton’s life. Determined to forget, he opts for a carefully normal existence: a prudent marriage, a successful career, and colourless passivity. But the past keeps breaking through, in relentless memories and in chance encounters with others who were involved in the assassination and its aftermath, until Anton finally learns what really happened that night in 1945 – and why.

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Publish Date: 13/03/2025
ISBN: 9781805221678 Category: Tags: ,

Description

A timeless classic from the author of The Discovery of Heaven’Acknowledged as Holland’s finest novelist’ Guardian ‘Mulisch is a rarity … an instinctively psychological novelist’ John UpdikeWith an introduction by Thomas Harding, author of Hanns and RudolfIn the bitter final months of the Second World War, the body of a Dutch Nazi collaborator is found on the doorstep of an ordinary family home. The repercussions are complex and terrible: the family is killed and the house burned to the ground; only the twelve-year-old son, Anton, survives. Following Anton as he reckons with this trauma through his life, The Assault is a powerful excavation of resistance and the collateral damage wrought on innocent people in times of war.A runaway bestseller that sold 200,000 copies on first publication, this is a classic of Dutch literature from one of the greatest European writers of his time.

Additional information

Weight 169 g
Dimensions 196 × 128 × 20 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

192

Language

English

Edition

Reprint

Dewey

839.31364 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K