The Ice Carriers by Anna Enquist

translated from the Dutch by Jeanette K. Ringold

• Gemeentebibliotheek Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  

What happens to parents when a teenager runs away from home?
Outwardly everything seems to be all right, but it is an illusion. Their daughter has run away and the parents can't talk about it, they act as if it never happened…
Nico and Louise both have good careers: Louise teaches classical languages and Nico is the director of a psychiatric hospital. Both try to impose their will elsewhere, on things outside their relationship; Louise on the sand-swept land of her garden, Nico on what her perceives as the disorganisation of the hospital he runs - despite resistance from those who would be affected by his proposed changes. The failure in the garden frustrates, but the situation in the hospital has more dramatic consequences.

Anna Enquist is a musician, a psychoanalyst, a poet and a novelist. One of the best-loved writers of her native Holland, she is also a best-selling author in Germany, Switzerland, France, Sweden and Austria. Her first collection of poetry won the award for new Dutch poetry - the prestigious C. Buddingh' prize - and has been followed by four more collections of poetry. She is the author of two previous novels, The Masterpiece and The Secret, which won the 1997 Dutch Readers' Prize.