Sleepless Night

Sleepless Night

Written by: de Moor, Margriet
Translated by: Doherty, David

In this short, beautifully written novel, the grande dame of Dutch literature recounts a story of romance and death while performing a midnight baking ritual.

A woman gets up in the middle of a wintry night and starts baking a Bundt cake while her lover sleeps upstairs. When it’s time for her to take the cake out of the oven, we have consumed a story of romance and death. The narrator was widowed years before and is trying to find new passion. But the memory of her deceased husband and a shameful incident holds her in its grasp. Why did he do it?

Margriet de Moor tells a gripping love story about endings and demise, rage and jealousy, knowledge and ambiguity — and the possibility of new beginnings.

In this short, beautifully written novel, the grande dame of Dutch literature recounts a story of romance and death while performing a midnight baking ritual.

A woman gets up in the middle of a wintry night and starts baking a Bundt cake while her lover sleeps upstairs. When it’s time for her to take the cake out of the oven, we have consumed a story of romance and death. The narrator was widowed years before and is trying to find new passion. But the memory of her deceased husband and a shameful incident holds her in its grasp. Why did he do it?

Margriet de Moor tells a gripping love story about endings and demise, rage and jealousy, knowledge and ambiguity — and the possibility of new beginnings.

Published By House of Anansi Press Inc — May 7, 2019
Specifications 120 pages | 5.25 in x 8 in
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Excerpt
Written By

Born in the Netherlands in 1941, MARGRIET DE MOOR had a career as a classical singer before becoming an author with the Gouden Ezelsoor–winning short story collection Seen from Behind. She won the AKO Literature Prize for her first novel, First Gray, Then White, Then Blue. Her novels have been translated into twenty-four languages. De Moor lives in the Netherlands.

Written By

Born in the Netherlands in 1941, MARGRIET DE MOOR had a career as a classical singer before becoming an author with the Gouden Ezelsoor–winning short story collection Seen from Behind. She won the AKO Literature Prize for her first novel, First Gray, Then White, Then Blue. Her novels have been translated into twenty-four languages. De Moor lives in the Netherlands.

Commended, A Library Journal Best Book of 2019, 2019

“Quiet, unrushed, yet deeply penetrating prose . . . An extraordinary accomplishment.” —Library Journal

“The questions of love, marriage, and mortality come to life in Margriet de Moor’s poignant novel Sleepless Night . . . Clever foreshadowing and ingeniously placed clues create suspense . . . Delivers insightful ruminations on marriage, love, love lost, and the unsolved mysteries lurking underneath the surface of everyday lives . . . Sleepless Night is a meditative novel where the seemingly mundane reveals itself to be the harbinger of profound insights.” —Foreword Reviews

“Compact, haunting, and lovely . . . it is unhurried and assured; no word is wasted . . . In both its rich and unapologetic descriptions of domesticity and frank attitude toward sex . . . the book is a treatise on one individual’s womanhood.” —Kirkus Reviews


“This novel is a subtle, enigmatic, and beautiful elegy to a husband and marriage that ends in tragedy. De Moor’s book is sensual and spare, whether she’s writing about love, a walk in an ice forest, or baking a cake in the middle of the night. There are layers of meaning here, which with adroit subtlety de Moor lets the reader puzzle out for themselves.” —Claire Fuller, author of Swimming Lessons and Bitter Orange

“De Moor’s novel is encased in calm, its surfaces appearing to be safe — until they suddenly crack open like thin ice beneath our feet. A beautiful, mysterious, and shocking book.” —Nancy E. Kline, author of The Faithful and Lightning: The Poetry of René Char