Big Stories for a Little Soldier

Six brothers are called up to the army. On their way to the front, they need to report to the border post and bring a gift for the good of Peace. The brothers have neither valuable offerings nor money to cross the border, but they have stories to tell: about an orphan who lived at the bottom of a well, about a baker, about a cursed lake and the rescue of a brother, about a sandy bride, about a young saint who could prevent war, and finally, about a dwarf who became a puppet. The brothers tell and tell stories to the lonely and forgotten Sentry at the post, telling them as if someone's life depends on it. Which is actually true. In this anti-war novel, Dutch writer and laureate of prestigious literary awards Benny Lindelauf demonstrates the highest stylistic mastery, and his prose resembles the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Patrick Süskind. Ludwig Volbeda, who illustrated Lindelauf's previous novel, complemented the book with melancholic and meditative images of desolate landscapes in pale colors.