A Brief History of Deceit

From a young age Herman Koch recognises the necessity of stretching the truth. The fact is, stories are more authentic if you embellish them. The boundary between credible lies and false truths fades and Koch plays a game with them to his heart’s content. In a few well-chosen sentences he manages to evoke an atmosphere that is sometimes melancholic, sometimes witty and full of irony. Stories about the art of deceit, about characters who do not belong or desperately try to be authentic, about his youth and about football.

‘Anyone who really wants to understand Koch’s popular novels should start with these stories.’ NRC Handelsblad

‘This book delivers a wonderful mix of emotion and humour. From merciless to merciful and back again.’ De Morgen

to merciful and back again.’ De Morgen ‘I cannot think of another Dutch writer who can get so entertainingly, so refreshingly worked up - without ever becoming bitter or cynical.’ HP/De Tijd

‘Enjoyably true to life with Koch's flowing, ironic style as the familiar background music.’ BOEK

‘Fiction or reality, lie or truth, autobiographical or otherwise, Koch has certainly convinced us of his talent with this collection of short stories.’ Cutting Edge

‘We think Koch is a great writer. A fantastic anthropologist. He knows our quirks and our weaknesses, our desires and our fears, our poses and our hypocrisy. He has an eagle eye for the small, all-revealing gesture. He has the gift of plain language and, perhaps more importantly, the talent to capture the madhouse he believes the world to be and the pointlessness that he sees all around him in prose that almost always surprises and, yes, very often makes you laugh. That is pretty unique.’ De Standaard

Books

The Herman Koch collection.

View all books

‘The Ditch is another Great Watergraafsmeerian Novel.’ *** NRC Handelsblad

‘Dear Mr M. fulfills the promise of a long-awaited new Koch after only a few pages.’ VRIJ NEDERLAND

‘A feast of clarity. Herman Koch responds with stunning irony, scope and narrative efficiency.’ El Periódico (Spain)

‘Once again Koch shows us, in that keen, almost icy style, how easy it is for successful people to go haywire.’ GLAMOUR

‘An intelligent, psychologically complex novel, exploring the boundaries of morality.’ STERN

Koch’s writing style is a rare combination of exuberance and understatement. What he describes is so understated and low-key it never becomes superficial.’ NRC Handelsblad

‘Thinking of Bruce Kennedy shows us Koch at his best.’ Vrij Nederland

‘A humorous book about the desire for literary fame.’ Dagblad van het Noorden

‘Anyone who really wants to understand Koch’s popular novels should start with these stories.’ NRC Handelsblad

‘Should Tom Sanders disregard that advice? Or should he tackle his son about his behaviour? That is the central dilemma in Easy Living, and Koch gets a devilish kick out of making Tom Sanders vacillate between these two options, and gets an even greater kick out of pushing him into a corner.’ Parool

'One of the most moving school novels in Dutch literature.' Vrij Nederland

Even more than a book about memories, this is a book about lost memories and that is the thing that makes this one so special. Trouw

Herman Koch slaat verrassend toe in bijtende roman. Elsevier