Hard Skin
A woman undergoes a magical metamorphosis into a yak in a captivating story about loss and grief
Sarlag is a 26-year-old woman working in the freezer section of a grocery store somewhere in the middle of the Netherlands. She seems completely ordinary. With a cool, detached gaze, she observes her surroundings and thinks about yaks, those loyal animals with their white fur that live on the steppes of Mongolia, where she grew up.
FictionPrint
Original title
Een soort eelt
Author
Rinske Bouwman
Year of publication
2024
Publisher
Orlando
Page count
192 (45,500 words)
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‘A bold, inventive novel, though the writer’s restraint almost obfuscates just how daring it is.
De Volkskrant
It’s impressive how Bouwman builds the kind of suspense that makes you want to keep reading, both through the way she breadcrumbs information and through her vivid, visceral prose.
Trouw
A wildly original debut.
VPRO Gids
A wholly original novel about how grief can alienate and transform us. Bouwman is a keen observer who confidently dissects complex emotions with levity and compassion. A unique debut.
Koen Caris, the author of Stenen eten (Eating Rocks)
Rinske Bouwman
Rinske Bouwman (b. 1988) is a writer and theatre-maker from Utrecht. Her plays have been performed at numerous
festivals and theatres throughout the Netherlands. Her writing is witty and macabre. Grief is a recurring topic in
her work – with a light-footed touch and a keen eye for the absurd, she brings a sense of hope to this difficult
human experience. Her debut has been nominated for the Anton Wachter Prize for the best debut in the past two years.