This cover is absolutely breathtaking. This is a captivating exploration of life, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. The central narrative weaves together themes of personal discovery and the complex relationships that define us. Stammers has crafted an introspective and universally relatable novel—a beautifully written piece that will linger with readers long after the final page. I very much enjoyed this book and bought a personal copy.

A young man falls in love with a girl he sees in his dreams. He sets off travelling to look for her and ends up getting involved in the criminal underworld of Amsterdam.

DNF at 47%. Unfortunately, this book was too slow paced for me. There was a lot of content taken up by the main character’s inner monologue and I felt like this detracted from the plot. Also, there was often a step-by-step description of everything he did which was not integral to the story. The narrative is first person past tense and keeps hinting that something big is about to happen but at the point that I stopped reading, the pace hadn’t yet picked up.

The time setting wasn’t clear, although the synopsis mentions post-soviet Europe and the currency used was guilders, so I managed to work out (with some help from Google) that it is probably the 1990’s/very early 2000’s.

I really liked the first chapter which is set a few years before the rest of the book. The pace was faster, and the characters had lots of emotion. I also liked the setting of Amsterdam, which was described very well and brought back memories of when I visited there myself.

I think this book would be well suited to someone who enjoys being intellectually stimulated by other people’s musings on society and who appreciates a slow pace and a gradual character development.

Thank you to NetGalley/the publisher/author for this ARC.