“In beautifully vivid writing, van den Brink describes the grace, ecstasy and agony of rowing, the miracle of its teamwork harmony.” —Washington Post
“H.M. van den Brink’s debut novella meticulously depicts the transcendent quiet at the core of an oarsman’s exertions. His prose is as evanescent as the light on the surface of a river, and he treats history—in this case the early, foreboding days of World War II—as an easel painter would. By studying color and light—the fleeting moods and images of a long-ago summer, the bricks and canals of Amsterdam—he manages to evoke an entire lost era, a forgotten Europe. . . . [an] affecting, ghostly book.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Van den Brink saves his novel from sentimentality with a restrained evocation of the greater loss that stalks this crew’s glorious last season, a loss that would go on to drown Europe.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer
“The metaphor or rowing gathers a rich nexus of meaning in this terse, haunting novel. . . . On the Water is a work of real originality, and a fine introduction to a splendid new novelist.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A sensitively written and finely tuned work.” —Publishers Weekly
“There is in these pages a kind of miracle of writing. If you doubt the power of language, the force of words used with precision, if you doubt that literature can still be written in the wake of history—then read On the Water.” —Le Figaro (France)
“On the eve of World War II, two young men find themselves bound to a passion more powerful than any they will know. With Bernard Schlink’s The Reader and Erri de Luca’s Sea of Memory, this new European novella traces the clouds of war back to a time where illusions were the order of the day, giving a tragic cast to the indifference of youth and the anxiety of remembrance.” —André Aciman, author of Out of Egypt
“With On the Water, van den Brink captures the essence of athleticism with an admirable power and precision. This perfectly coordinated narrative stands out brightly against the dark, anarchic shadow of its pre-World War II Dutch setting.” —Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls’ Rising
“On the Water is a superb elegy to a time and a friendship that history destroyed. Hans Maarten has a gift for understatement and elegance. By keenly maintaining his focus on the smallest details of an unlikely friendship between two Dutch boys in the late 1930s, he uncovers the great panorama of changes the onset of war wrought on a city, a nation, and a young man.” —Matthew Stadler, author of Allan Stein
“A radiating novella.” —Frankfurter Allgemeine (Germany)
“Brilliantly written . . . Your heart literally beats with these two boys as they struggle their way to their goal.” —Politiken (Denmark)
“An impeccable, profound and subtle piece of writing: elegant and serene on the surface, with dangerous unfathomable currents pulling away underneath.” —The Daily Mail (London)
Grove Press
