From his village in post-war France, Brodeck makes his solitary journeys into the mountains to collect data on the natural environment. Day by day he also reconstructs his own life, all but lost in the years he spent in a camp during the war. No-one had expected to see him again.
One day, a flamboyant stranger rides into the village, upsetting the fragile balance of everyday life. Soon he is named the Anderer, “the other”, and tensions rise until, one night, the newcomer is murdered. Brodeck is instructed to write an account of the events leading to his death, but his report delivers much more than the bare facts: it becomes the story of a community coming to terms with the legacy of enemy occupation.
In a powerful narrative of exceptional fascination, Brodeck’s Report explores the very limits of humanity.
One day, a flamboyant stranger rides into the village, upsetting the fragile balance of everyday life. Soon he is named the Anderer, “the other”, and tensions rise until, one night, the newcomer is murdered. Brodeck is instructed to write an account of the events leading to his death, but his report delivers much more than the bare facts: it becomes the story of a community coming to terms with the legacy of enemy occupation.
In a powerful narrative of exceptional fascination, Brodeck’s Report explores the very limits of humanity.
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Reviews
"This extraordinary novel . . . deeply wise and classically beautiful... is a modern masterpiece" Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph
“There are dark shades of Kafka, Camus, and Primo Levi but Claudel's lyricism evokes the deliciousness of life even as he plumbs the depths of intolerance and evil” Rosalind Sykes, Financial Times
"Transforms modern history into a fable that merges Kafka and the Grimms" Boyd Tonkin, Independent
"A superb example of Philippe Claudel's work” Max Davidson, Mail on Sunday
“The reviewer in Le Monde called it, simply, magnificent. And so it is” Allan Massie, Scotsman
"Original, brilliant and disturbing... a journey that goes to the heart of what it means to be human" Ruth Scurr, the Times