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2009 Longlist

Lost Paradise

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ABOUT
THE BOOK

Alma and Almut share a fascination for Australia and its ancient peoples; their ceremonies, sand drawings and body paintings. After Alma suffers a traumatic attack, they board a cheap flight from São Paulo to Sydney, and together begin their journey across their secret continent. Alma slowly recovers through a brief love affair with an Aboriginal artist, and both women become involved with the Angel Project in Perth, where actors dressed as angels are concealed around the city for the public to discover.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Cees
Nooteboom

Cees Nooteboom (b. 1933) is a Dutch author known for his novels, poetry and travel writing. One of the leading contemporary writers of Europe, his novels include Rituals, which received the Pegasus Prize in 1980; The Following Story; and Lost Paradise. Seagull Books has published Nooteboom’s Self-Portrait of an Other, his poetic collaboration with artist Max Neumann; his poetry collections Light Everywhere and Monk’s Eye; and his novel Mokusei! Nooteboom has received numerous awards including the Goethe Prize (2002), the Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2002), P. C. Hooft Award (2004), and Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (2009). In 2020 he was awarded the prestigious Formentor Prize as ‘a universal author who writes with the consciousness of belonging to the great European cultural tradition’ and for having ‘exceeded with his incessant creativity the limit proposed by literary genres’. (from Seagull Books)

Cees Nooteboom (b. 1933) is a Dutch author known for his novels, poetry and travel writing. One of the leading contemporary writers of Europe, his novels include Rituals, which received the Pegasus Prize in 1980; The Following Story; and Lost Paradise. Seagull Books has published Nooteboom’s Self-Portrait of an Other, his poetic collaboration with artist Max Neumann; his poetry collections Light Everywhere and Monk’s Eye; and his novel Mokusei! Nooteboom has received numerous awards including the Goethe Prize (2002), the Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2002), P. C. Hooft Award (2004), and Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (2009). In 2020 he was awarded the prestigious Formentor Prize as ‘a universal author who writes with the consciousness of belonging to the great European cultural tradition’ and for having ‘exceeded with his incessant creativity the limit proposed by literary genres’. (from Seagull Books)

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Susan
Massotty

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Modern novel about a woman who travels around the world after a traumatic experience. She plays a role as an angel in street theatre in Australia. A spectator falls in love with her.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
The Netherlands
Original Language
Dutch
Publisher
Harvill Secker
Translator
Susan Massotty

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