You Have Me to Love ( BIRK )

Mikael lives with his parents on an island somewhere between Scotland and Norway. One day Mikael's father saves him from drowning in the ocean, but is himself thrown against the rocks by a wave and disappears under water. In shock and unable to speak, Mikael blocks out the memory of what took place, silently joining his mother in the search for his missing father. As Mikael's mother realizes her husband has drowned, the relationship between her and Mikael transforms: she slowly starts to unravel, forcing the son to replace his father in every possible way.

Another lonely young person living close to the sea novel that I loved!
This time about a young boy growing up on a desolate island of only two households somewhere north of Sweden. Originally written in Dutch it has all the sparse language and direct speech that I love in Dutch writing and is so sensitively translated. The book opens with the death by drowning of the boy’s father and explores the fallout of losing a person in a place where there are so few people to be had. If I’m totally honest I was a bit let down by the ending, but right up to that point I enjoyed every moment and it’s so worth reading that it didn’t stop me including it on my top five list. It’s a dark book but the way it explains the mental process of a child trying to manage and live through awful trauma is beautifully done.

Voted as the best book of the year by Dutch booksellers in 2014.
So glad this book is now available in English! This is a true "Dutch" gem!
Irish literary correspondent Eileen Battersby about You Have Me to Love:
"Dutch poet, playwright, actor and children's author Jaap Robben's intense first adult novel offers a chilling insight into a damaged mind. It is a taut narrative heavy with a convincing sense of dread. The comparisons with Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (2003) are obvious yet do not detract from the story."
and
"This is a bold, tender and ambivalent narrative, raw and disturbing, with moments of painful beauty."
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