Review

All Soul’s Day

By Cees Nooteboom

Published by Picador

Arthur Daane, a documentary film-maker and inveterate globetrotter, has lost his wife and child in a plane crash. He wanders the streets of Berlin, a city uniquely shaped by history.

Berlin provides the backdrop for Daane's reflections on life as he plans his latest project - a self-funded film that will show the world through Daane's eyes.

With a new circle of friends, Arthur discusses everything from history to metaphysics; the cumulative power of remembered images and philosophical musings on the meaning of our contemporary existence comes to permeate the atmosphere of the book.

Then one cold, wintry day, Daane meets the young history student Elik Orange and his world is turned upside down.

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Translator: Susan Massotty