In A Dark Wood

In A Dark Wood
Shaun Whiteside

Marcel Moring

At the end of the Second World War, Jacob Noah emerges from the hole in the ground where he has been hiding for the past three years, and cycles madly back to his home town to find that his parents and brother have perished at the hands of the Nazis. Setting himself up as a shoemaker in the Dutch town of Assen, Noah patiently expands his business until he has become the most influential entrepreneur in the city.But however wealthy he becomes, nothing can console him for the loss of his family and the tragedy of history.In June 1980, on the eve of Assen's annual TT races, a despairing Noah sets off on a journey into the depths of his soul. Guided by a shabby, supernatural pedlar calling himself the 'Jew of Assen', he descends into the smoky heart of the town, a man-made hell modelled on Dis, the city in Dante's Inferno. In a rich and varied explosion of styles, fantasy and philosophical speculations, Marcel Möring leads us on a voyage through the dark heart of the twentieth century, and through a vivid exploration of loss and guilt.

Marcel Möring

IN A DARK WOOD

TRANSLATED BY SHAUN WHITESIDE

Epigraph (#ulink_721d8500-26c4-58e9-b77e-b86f8b590908)

Ego dixi: In dimidio dierum

meorum vadam ad portas inferi.

I said: In the midst of my days I

shall go to the gates of hell.

Isaiah 38:10

You come from nothing, you’re

going back to nothing. What’ve

you lost? Nothing!

Eric Idle, ‘Always Look on

the Bright Side of Life’

Contents

Cover (#uebcb7e7a-cb67-55ac-b795-ab8775ff9340)

Title Page (#ub9eae758-809d-5569-b54b-9ca429842d22)

Epigraph (#u5cca6fa4-2d8e-55fe-a2f4-f7c46b06cac5)

Part 1 (#ubf8e41d6-e9ed-5f7a-8de7-3543e69d2cb4)

Chapter 1 (#uf333ff92-53be-5467-859b-4299d1d035c7)

Chapter 2 (#u6191ca11-5638-5e19-83dd-5a92da9bbe4d)

Chapter 3 (#u2a716b13-7819-513b-804a-9b63af2fdfd0)

Chapter 4 (#ua169f19d-91ab-53ba-a97e-c3e42d5b3b17)

Chapter 5 (#u9a2f43ef-1084-5dd3-a397-9ebc9cc5a631)

Chapter 6 (#u18dddd1d-1b89-58b4-ae70-a94cb8820ca2)

Chapter 7 (#u84f624dc-d9dd-53a2-95ce-993f0f3be0bb)

Chapter 8 (#uc88c0413-389b-5b14-b154-4f0fc4be10da)

Part 2 (#u9de3e4f6-a3cc-502b-a60e-3552a06b1adc)

Chapter 9 (#u6cdc9dc1-7ff2-52a2-a3af-1ffa4ff49a7b)

Chapter 10 (#u7639fd8a-918f-5dd5-a57f-7d9723c70a64)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 3 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 4 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)