Haunting, powerful This provocatively labyrinthine novel dissects the consciousness of an amnesiac veteran of World War I who has spent four years in a Belgian asylum only to be retrieved by a woman who insists she is his wife This marriage, he comes to realise, is built on quicksand, one false step and theyll drown together. * The New York Times * An epic, extraordinary story of love, identity and war Anjet Daanjes first novel in English is a powerfully vivid portrait of two people dealing with their changed lives after the first world war David McKays page-turning translation faithfully conveys the propulsive nature of Daanjes long, sinuous sentences A novel of epic scope that resonates powerfully while wars of tragic loss continue to be fought on multiple fronts, including in Europe. Daanje exhibits brilliant powers of reconstitution in her descriptions of the wars aftermath and the blighted landscapes that it left behind. -- Tobias Grey * Financial Times * Rich and beguiling ... In Daanjes novel, memory is mutable and collaborative As Amands experience of reality collapses under the weight of trauma, the prose in its dearth of partitions and its slick slope of conjunctions captures a man desperate for firm footing. -- Walker Rutter-Bowman * Times Literary Supplement * The novels depictions are minute and comprehensive Ms. Daanje has a dense, rhythmic writing style that captures how the consciousness of each character flows In David McKays assiduous translation from the Dutch, the sentences tumble forward hypnotically, if often monotonously, from one moment to the next. Its a prose style that, like Amand, seems to have no past, only a perpetually unspooling present In its dangerous admixture of truth and lies and reassembled reality, The Remembered Soldier develops an unforgettable picture of marital love. -- Sam Sacks * The Wall Street Journal * The Remembered Soldier is a dazzling exploration of love, longing, and memory in the aftermath of World War I. Anjet Daanjes rendering of a couples interiority as they struggle to claw their deepest desires back from the devastation of war is by turns moving and unsettling, and David McKays virtuosic translation draws English readers into the hypnotic unfolding of a narrative that is at once a careful probing of the human mind and a lyrical triumph. -- Jury citation for The National Book Award The phenomenal English-language debut from Daanje weaves an affecting love story through a tangle of memories and dreams The complex and layered narrative is as moving as it is unsettling, and it will keep readers wondering about the truth long after the final page. Its a remarkable achievement. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review This is magnificent, complex writing, exploring the complications to identity, memory, latent anger, and gender dynamics posed by trauma. -- Bob Moore * Good Reading * A psychologically astute and accomplished novel. The Remembered Soldier is a studied exploration of a marriage and wartime horror. The prose is nothing short of Jamesian in its nuanced depiction of intimacy, and David McKays translation of Daanjes writing, with all of its subtleties, is truly remarkable. -- Lori Feathers * The Book Project * Grapples with fragile versions of the truth The Remembered Soldier, a luminous historical novel, mines the seams between a veterans traumas and restored hope. -- Foreword Reviews, starred review By far the best novel of recent years. * NRC Handelsblad * A gripping story stirring, psychologically profound, and not a page too long. * Deutschlandfunk * The book is phenomenal. -- Ivo van Hove, Tony and Olivier awardwinning theatre director This is a story about healing a soldiers mind after surviving years of carnage, and it is about restoring mutual trust and love after so much has happened [ A]n absorbing tale. * Kirkus Reviews * Particularly impressive a solid, engaging novel, The Remembered Soldier also uses the historical period and place well, making for a rich read. * The Complete Review * This is a beautifully written book [ V]ery effective as it brings the reader into the flying thoughts of an injured, tormented, and confused mind. The ending is complicated, but contains a surprise, and the reader is left guessing Highly recommended. * Historical Novels Review * An ample, absorbing, and justly prize-winning historical novel. -- Alice-Catherine Carls, * Rain Taxi * This is a beautiful, sprawling historical novel and love story with enthralling explorations of memory, trust, and connection. * Electric Literature * An absorbing, expansive work never losing the readers attention, its a story both of individuals and of war. Were shown another time, another world Daanjes work is superb in keeping the pacing up over more than five-hundred pages and credit must go to McKay for his excellent job This is a book I highly recommend. * Tonys Reading List * A soldier without his memory; a wife in search of her missing husband In Daanjes hands, and in McKays intuitive translation, the ravages and shellshock of the First World War are superbly traced but the big question at the heart of this novel is how far humans will go in order to love. -- The International Booker Prize 2026 judges Ive never encountered a novel so intensely realistic yet so dreamily rendered. The Remembered Soldier is absolutely singular and utterly bewitching. I could have read it forever. -- Daniel Kraus, New York Times bestselling author of Whalefall and Angel Down A World War I soldier with post-traumatic amnesia is identified as the missing husband of a Belgian woman in this intimate epic by the Dutch novelist Anjet Daanje. Returned to a household of which he has no memory, the veteran experiences many emotions: wariness, attraction, love, and lingering fear. The incantatory prose, translated by David McKay, makes ordinary aspects of marital life feel newly discovered. -- The Wall Street Journal, The 10 Best Books of 2025 An ample, absorbing, and justly prize-winning historical novel. -- Alice-Catherine Carls * Rain Taxi Review of Books * This is a beautiful, sprawling historical novel and love story with enthralling explorations of memory, trust, and connection. * Electric Literature * An absorbing, expansive work never losing the readers attention, its a story both of individuals and of war. Were shown another time, another world Daanjes work is superb in keeping the pacing up over more than five-hundred pages and credit must go to McKay for his excellent job This is a book I highly recommend. * Tonys Reading List * Brilliant Its a knockout. -- John Mulaney, comedian and actor
