Stammered Songbook: A Mother's Book of Hours - Softcover

'This slender book... packs more punch than many a heftier volume... Mortier has a poet's eye for vibrant detail and prose to match... If this is a book of fragmentation, it is also a son's moving tribute... From his debut Marcel to his Great War novel, While the Gods Were Sleeping, Mortier is a writer to savour' Observer

'Written with precision, tenderness and sense of desolation' Julian Barnes, GuardianBooks of the Year

'A remarkable meditation on dementia and the nature of identity' Nicci Gerrard, Observer Books of the Year

'A touching and very personal memoir... A heavily emotional experience... hits you with a force like nothing else'Huffington Post

'Superb, staggering and even more... At once a clinical observation, a cry of love, a farewell and a meditation. A work of considerable significance' Humanité

'Erwin Mortier has surpassed himself. This is more than just an immensely touching confessional memoir about Alzheimer's disease. It is an essential book. Overwhelming. Mortier unearths at least one diamond on every page' De Standaard

'A wonderful source of sustenance to survive the shipwreck' Libération

'In this painfully beautiful novel it is ultimately love that persists despite everything, the love of a son for his mother. Heart-rending' de Telegraaf

'It makes no difference what subject Erwin Mortier settles upon. Everything he describes gains that characteristic splendour, that unmistakable, unique sound. Golden tragedy'

Erwin Mortier (1965) made his mark in 1999 with his debut novel Marcel, which was awarded several prizes in Belgium and the Netherlands, and received acclaim throughout Europe. In the following years he quickly built up a reputation as of one the leading authors of his generation. His novel While the Gods were Sleeping received the AKO Literature Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the Netherlands. His latest work, Stammered Song Book, a mother's book of hours,' a raw yet tender elegy about illness and loss, was met with unanimous praise. Mortier's evocative descriptions bring past worlds brilliantly to life.