Mona in Three Acts

Translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison

2021 Longlist

Mona’s demanding mother ruled their home until a car crash took her life and changed their family forever. Left to tend to a distant father and a needy younger brother, Mona finds her new role almost too much to bear. And when a new stepmother, troubled and depressed, adds yet another crack to the family portrait, Mona’s forced to shoulder an even greater share of the emotional burden .Somewhere between her responsibility to her family and to her own life, Mona finds a route of escape: in a theater career she craves. But for every challenge ahead—romantic, professional, sexual, and familial—Mona wonders how much of her future has already been defined by the challenges of her past .An emotional, funny, and universal novel about the people, experiences, and choices that make us who we are, Mona in Three Acts is a revelatory journey of a woman’s self-discovery, forgiveness, and courage to finally speak her truth.

About the Author

Griet Op de Beeck (1973) worked as a drama teacher in the theater for ten years. She went on to write for Humoand for De Morgen. This, her second novel since the appearance of Many Heavens Above the Seventh, has been eagerly awaited.

Michele Hutchison (b. 1972) is a literary translator from Dutch and French into English. As a former commissioning editor at various top publishing houses, she has translated more than twenty books from Dutch and one from French. Recent literary translations include ’La Superba’ by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, ’Roxy’ by Esther Gerritsen, and Fortunate Slaves by Tom Lanoye. In 2020, Michele won the Vondel Translation Prize for her translation of ‘Stage Four’ by Sander Kollaard and the International Booker Prize together with author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld for ‘The Discomfort of Evening’.  She is also co-author of ‘The Happiest Kids in the World: What We Can Learn from Dutch Parents’.

Librarian’s Comments

This book has been lent very much by our borrowers. Bibliotheek Eindhoven, Netherlands