The International Booker Prize named The Remembered Soldier by Dutch author Anjet Daanje as one of thirteen books on its longlist. This prestigious award recognises the finest fiction translated into English. Organisers announced the selection on Tuesday, marking a major milestone for the 2019 novel.
The judges will reveal a six-book shortlist on 31 March and announce the winner on 19 May. Every shortlisted entry earns £5,000. The overall winner receives £50,000, with the author and translator splitting the prize money equally.
The plot follows a soldier discovered behind Belgian front lines during the First World War. He is physically unhurt but suffers from total memory loss. While he lives in an asylum, a woman arrives and claims he is her husband. He returns home with her despite remembering nothing of their life together. The jury called the work “an extraordinary love story about the power of memory and imagination.”
Daanje is already a celebrated figure in the Netherlands. She previously won the Boekenbon Literature Prize and the Libris Literature Prize for her novel Song of Stork and Dromedary. Her nomination continues a strong run for Dutch literature. Lucas Rijneveld won the prize in 2020, while Jente Posthuma and Astrid Roemer have also reached the final stages in recent years.
Daanje’s nomination marks a new chapter for Dutch storytelling on the world stage. As the competition moves toward the March shortlist, many wonder if this story can repeat the historic Dutch victory of 2020.
@anp | NEWS BRAINPORT
