Man on the move - Otto de Kat

In January 1935, Rob, a young Dutchman, departs to Capetown in search of adventure. After a brutal stint in the diamond mines, Rob sails to Java to join up in the Dutch army which is making a last stand against the Japanese invading army. Here he meets a fellow Dutchman, Guus, in whom he finds a soul mate, the best friend he will ever have.

They are soon captured by the Japanese. Together they survive the hell of labouring on the Burma railway, and together they leap off their ship when it is torpedoed. Rob never sees his friend again, but he spends his life unable to find peace with the shadow of the past hanging over him, unable to accept love, unable to forgive himself for his imagined failings.

Otto de Kat is the pen name of the founder of Dutch non-fiction publishing house Balans, Jan Guert Gaarlandt, also a poet, novelist and critic. His prize-winning novels have been widely published in Europe, and Man on the Move was the winner of the Netherlands' Halewijn Literature Prize.

'A novel of extraordinary power and moral beauty' Paul Binding, Independent.
Independent

'A thoughtful, elegiac text to be savoured slowly, again and again' Roger Cox, Scotsman.
Scotsman

'Stimulating and original ... met confidently by Sam Garrett in his powerful translation ... a stark and impressive piece of storytelling' Nora Mahony, Times Literary Supplement.
Times Literary Supplement

'A compelling existential black-and-white novel ... reminiscent of Sartre's Nausea and Camus' The Outsider... This novel has a magical power of attraction' Ulrich Baron, Die Zeit.
Ulrich Baron, Die Zeit

'A novel of extraordinary power and moral beauty' Paul Binding, Independent.
Independent

'A thoughtful, elegiac text to be savoured slowly, again and again' Roger Cox, Scotsman.
Scotsman

'Stimulating and original ... met confidently by Sam Garrett in his powerful translation ... a stark and impressive piece of storytelling' Nora Mahony, Times Literary Supplement.
Times Literary Supplement

'A compelling existential black-and-white novel ... reminiscent of Sartre's Nausea and Camus' The Outsider... This novel has a magical power of attraction' Ulrich Baron, Die Zeit.
Ulrich Baron, Die Zeit