Description

Inspired by the life and work of Emily Bronte, this masterful, multi-award-winning book – acclaimed as the best Dutch novel published this century – pulls readers into a narrative that redefines time itself.

In the early 1800s, in Yorkshire, Eliza May Drayden and her sisters live far from the public eye, devoted to their shared love of reading and writing books. When, after dozens of rejections, Eliza May’s only novel, Haeger Mass, is finally published, it’s labelled as ‘ghastly’ and ‘immoral’. Over time, however, it is embraced by generations of readers as a masterpiece, and tales about its mysterious, reclusive author take on a life of their own.

In eleven extraordinary chapters, the story of Eliza May – both before and after her death – unfolds: through the tales of people who met her; her sister’s letters; her biographers’ words; the pages of a mysterious notebook; and the lives that become intertwined with hers, even centuries later.

In The Song of Stork and Dromedary, Anjet Daanje has crafted an absorbing literary mystery and an unforgettable meditation on love, life, loss, and the inexplicable nature of time. As the Brontes themselves did, Daanje shows us that storytelling is our only way to transcend death.

Publisher Review

‘If just for once in my career as a literary critic, I could award six stars instead of the maximum of five, I would award them this week – to The Song of Stork and Dromedary by Anjet Daanje, a novel that left me so overwhelmed that I have not yet fully recovered … I have never had a reading experience like this one, and I don’t know if I will ever again be so impressed by a book.’ — Thomas de Veen * NRC Handelsblad * ‘The reader advances across Mr. McKay’s superb translation as though compelled by a fierce highland wind. In the book’s telling, the Drayden sisters’ imaginative visions are so powerful that they reshape the way people experience reality. Readers, too, will finish this vast, teeming novel with a sense of a world transformed.’ — Sam Sacks * The Wall Street Journal * ‘Daanje works a deep literary vein that’s full of sly allusions … And there are sublime moments throughout, even when death comes into play … A challenging book that rewards its readers with great depth and beauty.’ — Kirkus Reviews, starred review ‘Unforgettable … A significant and moving literary achievement, an unforgettable story of a historical mystery … McKay renders Daanje’s distinct, rhythmic prose and character tones adroitly, alongside the atmospheric dread and luminous beauty that epitomises her writing.’ — Elizabeth DeNoma * Shelf Awareness * ‘A sprawling meditation on death, sisterhood, and the mysteries that refuse to be buried … [Daanje] boldly grapples with unsettling questions, challenging our conception of time and the ways it governs our experience of death and grief … The Song of the Stork and Dromedary stands as another example of Daanje’s brilliant storytelling, cementing her status as a writer to watch for years to come.’ * Chicago Review of Books * ‘This sweeping multigenerational epic, a winner of multiple awards in Daanje’s original Dutch, was deftly translated by McKay … In exploring the facts and fiction of Eliza May’s life and work, the narrative slides between historical fiction, science, philosophy, and horror, creating a pastiche reading experience. Each chapter is novella-like in length, sometimes in letter or notebook form. Perfect for readers who enjoy fiction in translation and anyone looking for a sweeping adventure through literary legends, Daanje’s story asks fundamental questions about art, loss, and acclaim as it highlights truths across languages and centuries.’ — Courtney Eathorne * Booklist * ‘A book that reads like a dream, yet at the same time demands a bit from the reader. It is bursting with intricate intertextuality, overflows with admirably ambitious stylistic shifts, and contains extraordinary reflections on the craft of writing. Each individual chapter is like a nugget of gold, and together they form a literary tour de force.’ — Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the Boekenbon Literature Prize ‘Daanje presents such an absorbing narrative spectacle that I can compare her book only to the masterly Possession by A.S. Byatt, the Booker Prize winner in 1990 … Daanje’s book is just as marvellous … monumental in scope, erudite, overflowing with wonderful stories.’ — Maaike Meijer * De Groene Amsterdammer * ‘It sometimes made me think of Julian Barnes, sometimes of A.S. Byatt and Hilary Mantel … It’s delightful to attempt to solve the puzzle, see the connections, detect the details that resurface in a new century after hundreds of pages, and to contemplate all the food for thought that Daanje offers us. A rich book to be re-read the moment you’ve finished.’ — Maria Vlaar * De Standaard * ‘A novel of international allure that crosses boundaries and genres. It is serious and playful, analytical yet romantic, and an ode to the imagination – you might even say, an ode to literature itself.’ — Beatrice de Graaf, chair of the Libris Literature Prize judging panel Praise for The Remembered Soldier:

‘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 they’ll drown together.”‘ * The New York Times * Praise for The Remembered Soldier:

‘An epic, extraordinary story of love, identity and war Anjet Daanje’s first novel in English is a powerfully vivid portrait of two people dealing with their changed lives after the first world war … David McKay’s page-turning translation faithfully conveys the propulsive nature of Daanje’s 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 war’s aftermath and the blighted landscapes that it left behind.’ — Tobias Grey * The Financial Times * Praise for The Remembered Soldier:

‘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. It’s a remarkable achievement.’ — Publishers Weekly, starred review Praise for The Remembered Soldier:

‘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’