Fortunate Slaves
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Two doppelgänger exiles-both, curiously, named Tony Hanssen-are on the run from the lies and deceit that have defined their lives. When they accidentally meet up, they realise that each could hold the solution to the other’s problems. An allegory of the global economic crisis and of the identity conflict of modern man, Fortunate Slaves is a moral and picaresque novel that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Just how low will desperate men sink to achieve their aims?
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Michele
Hutchison
Michele Hutchison is an Amsterdam-based translator, editor and writer. She has translated more than forty books from Dutch including the winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize, The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld, the international bestseller Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and We Are Light by Gerda Blees (winner of the EU Prize for Literature). She is co-author of The Happiest Kids in the World and author of The North Wind (poetry).
Michele Hutchison is an Amsterdam-based translator, editor and writer. She has translated more than forty books from Dutch including the winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize, The Discomfort of Evening by Lucas Rijneveld, the international bestseller Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and We Are Light by Gerda Blees (winner of the EU Prize for Literature). She is co-author of The Happiest Kids in the World and author of The North Wind (poetry).
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Two individuals with the same name (Doppelganger in fact) have adventures in their strive for money and recognition. A tragic but also comical novel with a twist. Lanoye writes beautiful prose, the story is amusing, thrilling (with real cliffhangers!) and informative. It takes place in South America, Africa and China and is a story about the modern world in an economic crisis and individual choices.
With its seeming paradoxes and moral complications, this is a picaresque novel that immerses the reader in its sparkling language.
Chosen by our readers.