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A scintillating collection from the award-winning author of The Ice-Cream Makers and Mama Tandoori.
The vivid characters in these stories share lives marked by coincidences, deeply felt passions, impulsive decisions, and missed opportunities. There’s Ezio, a lonely apple-picker dangerously obsessed with spirited teenager Giovanna. Heinrich is a quiet ticket inspector who watches his passengers live their lives as he longs for a meaningful connection of his own. Klaus is a young man reflecting on his first unrequited love, Eva. And Paul’s experiences of loss bring him to a new life.
As they look back and narrate their histories, each reflects on the circuitous paths that life took them, and on the relationships that never came to pass.
Melancholic yet tender, these beautifully rendered atmospheric stories explore loss, longing, coming of age, and regret, and speak to the humanity in all of us.
“Ernest van der Kwast is a shameless romantic, I loved his stories.”
—Tommy Wieringa, author of A Beautiful Young Wife
“In a new short story collection by Ernest Van Der Kwast, Giovanna's Navel, we meet a range of characters whose stories share lives marked by coincidences, deeply felt passions, impulsive decisions and missed opportunities.”
—Good Reading
Praise for The Ice-Cream Makers
“A compelling novel about the yoke of family relations.”
—Elle
“Van der Kwast tells his multigenerational tale with great sensitivity…A delightful read.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Mama Tandoori:
“The funniest and most moving book I have read this year.”
—Herman Koch, author of The Dinner