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Slapeloze nacht
Het is nacht. Terwijl een wildvreemde man in haar bed ligt te slapen, is een vrouw naar beneden gegaan om een tulband te bakken. Zo doet ze dat in de doorwaakte nachten sinds haarman zich, nadat ze slechts veertien maanden getrouwd waren, van het leven heeft beroofd.
Ze stelt de keukenwekker in. Gaat weer naar boven. Kijkend naar de slapende man dringt tot haar door waarom ze het deze keer fijn vindt om wakker te zijn.
Ze stelt de keukenwekker in. Gaat weer naar boven. Kijkend naar de slapende man dringt tot haar door waarom ze het deze keer fijn vindt om wakker te zijn.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
11 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
Margriet de Moor
34 books30 followersMargriet de Moor was born in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, in 1941. She comes from a Catholic family with many children and grew up with nine siblings, six of them girls. The theme of sisterhood was to become a common theme in her work. She studied Piano and Song at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and was especially interested in the music of avant-garde composers such as Schönberg, Satie and Debussy. She began to appear regularly on stage as a solo singer from 1968 onwards. Ten years later she resumed her studies again, this time in Art History and Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam.
Following her marriage to the sculptor Heppe de Moor she founded an art salon in 's-Graveland, near Amsterdam, in 1984. She made films and video portraits of the artists involved in the salon. One year later she began to write prose, which from the outset displayed a complex structure and atmospheric density. In 1988 de Moor's first volume of short stories appeared, »Op de rug gezien« (t: Back views), which was awarded the Gouden Ezelsoor for best selling first work. She achieved international recognition with her first novel, »Eerst grijs dan wit dan blauw« (1991; Eng. »First Grey, then White, then Blue«, 1994), which has been translated into eleven languages to date. The murder of a young woman, who disappeared years ago, is reconstructed from the perspectives of three different people.
Her musical preferences have always been modern, as is also true of de Moor's literary tastes, which include avant-garde stylists such as Beckett, Borges and Ionesco. »My creative thought is wrought from musical forms, yet I will never try to translate a specific musical form directly into literature.« In her work she is often preoccupied – against the backdrop of historical events and epochs – with the fateful powers which rail against human strivings to control life. Thus music and love are recurring themes. »De Virtuoos« (1993; Eng. »The Virtuoso«, 1996) concerns a woman's love for a castrato in 18th Century Naples. »Hertog van Egypte« (1996; Eng. »The Duke of Egypt«, 2001), similarly, describes the love story of an unusual couple, in this case between a gypsy and a female farmer, who get married in the sixties.
In her novel, »De verdronkene« (2005; t: The drowned), recently translated into German, de Moor tells the story of the flooding of the southwest province of Zeeland in 1953. The destiny of two sisters with similar looks is played out, as they switch roles on the day of the catastrophe itself. Thus one sister dies at the place where the other sister was meant to be.
De Moor has been awarded many prizes, including the Lucy B. en C.W. van der Hoogtprijs and the Ako Literature Prize. She lives in Amsterdam.
© internationales literaturfestival berlin
Geboren als Margaretha Maria Antonette Neefjes, moeder van beeldend kunstenaar Lara de Moor (1969) en schrijfster Marente de Moor (1972)
Following her marriage to the sculptor Heppe de Moor she founded an art salon in 's-Graveland, near Amsterdam, in 1984. She made films and video portraits of the artists involved in the salon. One year later she began to write prose, which from the outset displayed a complex structure and atmospheric density. In 1988 de Moor's first volume of short stories appeared, »Op de rug gezien« (t: Back views), which was awarded the Gouden Ezelsoor for best selling first work. She achieved international recognition with her first novel, »Eerst grijs dan wit dan blauw« (1991; Eng. »First Grey, then White, then Blue«, 1994), which has been translated into eleven languages to date. The murder of a young woman, who disappeared years ago, is reconstructed from the perspectives of three different people.
Her musical preferences have always been modern, as is also true of de Moor's literary tastes, which include avant-garde stylists such as Beckett, Borges and Ionesco. »My creative thought is wrought from musical forms, yet I will never try to translate a specific musical form directly into literature.« In her work she is often preoccupied – against the backdrop of historical events and epochs – with the fateful powers which rail against human strivings to control life. Thus music and love are recurring themes. »De Virtuoos« (1993; Eng. »The Virtuoso«, 1996) concerns a woman's love for a castrato in 18th Century Naples. »Hertog van Egypte« (1996; Eng. »The Duke of Egypt«, 2001), similarly, describes the love story of an unusual couple, in this case between a gypsy and a female farmer, who get married in the sixties.
In her novel, »De verdronkene« (2005; t: The drowned), recently translated into German, de Moor tells the story of the flooding of the southwest province of Zeeland in 1953. The destiny of two sisters with similar looks is played out, as they switch roles on the day of the catastrophe itself. Thus one sister dies at the place where the other sister was meant to be.
De Moor has been awarded many prizes, including the Lucy B. en C.W. van der Hoogtprijs and the Ako Literature Prize. She lives in Amsterdam.
© internationales literaturfestival berlin
Geboren als Margaretha Maria Antonette Neefjes, moeder van beeldend kunstenaar Lara de Moor (1969) en schrijfster Marente de Moor (1972)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
September 22, 2022
Stylistically this short novel told by a unnamed young widow baking a gugelhupf cake during a sleepless night while the man she took home is soundly asleep upstairs, started off as a finger licking good delicacy rich in promising flavours.
Margriet de Moor’s wondrous, precise and subtle phrases enraptured me. The protagonist’s thoughtful observations on her brief marriage and her evocation how she tries to shape her life after the suicide of her husband Ton after 15 months of marriage touched a chord, particularly some well-crafted reflections on the silence engulfing her after the funeral and her need for solitude which is on a par with the young woman’s sensual desires. It is not hard to imagine how losing one’s beloved to suicide without even a note leaves one wondering and searching for answers for a long time. The enigma of Ton’s suicide and his secrets touch on the core theme of the novella, the essential impossibility to truly know someone - which also extends to the beloved other you curl up to at night in bed.
Sleepless Night is a musical piece of which the musicality is enhanced with a few well-chosen allusions to music. The narrative exposition and execution of the theme after the promising beginning however weren’t on an equal footing with Margriet de Moor’s elegant and crystalline prose and to my taste lingered too much on the surface not fully developing its potential.
January 27, 2019
3.5 stars
Why, why did he do it?
That is the question that runs through this very short novel. A woman gets up in the middle of the night to bake a cake and while she is baking, she thinks back upon her short marriage (14 months), the events leading up to her meeting her husband, and their brief marriage which ended with his death. The middle of the night is her baking time, but it is also a time of reflection. After so many years she is still trying to make sense of her husband's suicide. She is not alone in the house, her lover is sleeping upstairs. He is a man who was also left alone by a spouse - not by death - his wife left.
I enjoyed this book and found that it worked as a nice book to read in one sitting. It doesn't have a lot of characters of plot to it. Due to its size there isn't much room for character development or answers to all questions. For me it was more of a study on human nature. A woman who wants answers and is kept up by her baking and reflections on her married life. Something has been on her mind, something troubling, and as she bakes, she reflects, she remembers, and then starts a new day.
This is a translated book, and some may feel some things are lost in translation. I did not feel this way. This is not a page turner by any stretch. It's a quiet study on a woman's life - or at least- her reflections on her relationship with her husband. Ever have something that weighs on your mind, that keeps you up at night? This is basically the premise.
I loved how subtle this book felt. I could feel the quiet of the night, the quiet of the house as she baked. For a small book, the Author tackled a heavy subjects - suicide/death, moving on, jealousy, etc. She effectively used her pages to tell her tale.
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss who provided me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Why, why did he do it?
That is the question that runs through this very short novel. A woman gets up in the middle of the night to bake a cake and while she is baking, she thinks back upon her short marriage (14 months), the events leading up to her meeting her husband, and their brief marriage which ended with his death. The middle of the night is her baking time, but it is also a time of reflection. After so many years she is still trying to make sense of her husband's suicide. She is not alone in the house, her lover is sleeping upstairs. He is a man who was also left alone by a spouse - not by death - his wife left.
I enjoyed this book and found that it worked as a nice book to read in one sitting. It doesn't have a lot of characters of plot to it. Due to its size there isn't much room for character development or answers to all questions. For me it was more of a study on human nature. A woman who wants answers and is kept up by her baking and reflections on her married life. Something has been on her mind, something troubling, and as she bakes, she reflects, she remembers, and then starts a new day.
This is a translated book, and some may feel some things are lost in translation. I did not feel this way. This is not a page turner by any stretch. It's a quiet study on a woman's life - or at least- her reflections on her relationship with her husband. Ever have something that weighs on your mind, that keeps you up at night? This is basically the premise.
I loved how subtle this book felt. I could feel the quiet of the night, the quiet of the house as she baked. For a small book, the Author tackled a heavy subjects - suicide/death, moving on, jealousy, etc. She effectively used her pages to tell her tale.
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss who provided me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
May 8, 2019
this book is all of the sibilants: subtle, suggestive, sensual, sensory. at its most reductive “it’s about this”-ness, it is the story of a woman who gets up in the middle of the night to bake a cake, leaving a new lover sleeping peacefully in her bed while she passes the pre-dawn hours thinking about her brief marriage to a man who killed himself, unpacking her memories of their relationship, searching for clues.
it’s only 115 pages, but there’s a lot going on. but just as much not going on so much as lurking in the background in an ambiguous ‘maybe you see me and maybe you don’t and whaddya gonna make of me?’ kind of way, leaving the reader to connect their own dots.
it very authentically mimics those late-night moods, where thought flits to thought and emotions reshape the past in a relationship’s post-mortem; this woman sorting through the hundreds of nagging memories and suspicions that have been plaguing her for years - all the frustratingly unanswered questions you cannot pose to the dead preventing her from full engagement in life.
it’s brief, but affecting, and her prose is a master class in lyrical restraint.
come to my blog!
it’s only 115 pages, but there’s a lot going on. but just as much not going on so much as lurking in the background in an ambiguous ‘maybe you see me and maybe you don’t and whaddya gonna make of me?’ kind of way, leaving the reader to connect their own dots.
it very authentically mimics those late-night moods, where thought flits to thought and emotions reshape the past in a relationship’s post-mortem; this woman sorting through the hundreds of nagging memories and suspicions that have been plaguing her for years - all the frustratingly unanswered questions you cannot pose to the dead preventing her from full engagement in life.
it’s brief, but affecting, and her prose is a master class in lyrical restraint.
come to my blog!
May 7, 2019
“Sleepless Night”, is the first book I’ve read by 77 year old Margaret de Moor. She’s a Dutch pianist and writer of novels and essays.
I read this slim novel in the middle of the night....and then reached closer to my sleeping husband. He took me in my arms and we both slept deeper for the next couple of hours.
This slim book isn’t cluttered - there are no wasted words. It seems to me to be a book that gets to the core of why we suffer - and stir - and that life is an expression of something indefinable, mysterious, and immense.
“I experienced a sense of gliding out of the world. There was no wind. No color. No temperature even. Nothing on which to impose my will. Only the sound of the blades on the ice, close besides me”.
“The kitchen timer has gone off”.....
“Time to take the Bundt cake out of the oven”.
Short - tense - and heartrending.
I read this slim novel in the middle of the night....and then reached closer to my sleeping husband. He took me in my arms and we both slept deeper for the next couple of hours.
This slim book isn’t cluttered - there are no wasted words. It seems to me to be a book that gets to the core of why we suffer - and stir - and that life is an expression of something indefinable, mysterious, and immense.
“I experienced a sense of gliding out of the world. There was no wind. No color. No temperature even. Nothing on which to impose my will. Only the sound of the blades on the ice, close besides me”.
“The kitchen timer has gone off”.....
“Time to take the Bundt cake out of the oven”.
Short - tense - and heartrending.
January 31, 2019
This novel is a subtle, enigmatic and beautiful elegy to a husband and marriage that ends in tragedy. De Moor's writing is sensual and spare, whether she's writing about love, a walk in an ice forest, or baking a cake in the middle of the night. There are layers of meaning here, which with adroit subtlety De Moor lets the reader puzzle out.
February 6, 2019
this novel weaves loosely in and out of the present. its narrator, rising in the middle of the night to make a cake, is tied firmly to the past, to the memory of her deceased husband, so much so that her present narration glides between tenses, sometimes within the same scene, the same paragraph. it's an enchanting style, but it requires a bit more caution than i normally give – i had to stop myself many times within the first few chapters, tell myself, "OK, slow down a bit, you need to take all this in." it's also startlingly brief, and written with wonderful prose. i'm not sure how much of de moor's work has been translated into english, but i'm about to find out. this was a lovely introduction to her as a writer, her attention to detail, her ability to suffuse a character with a big, beating heart in the course of 120 pages.
April 25, 2022
Gorgeous, melancholic writing, a single sleepless night, circling memories of a young widow’s past, and a day spent in the company of a new man. Heartbreaking, beautifully observed, and at moments hopeful… with ambiguity in the most truthful way.
February 22, 2021
We've all had those nights when we couldn't sleep. You know the ones...where something from the day or maybe decades ago keeps running through your mind, you can't shut it off, and you just want to GO TO SLEEP. This book, essentially, puts you in someone else's mind while that's happening. An unnamed woman gets up to bake a cake when she can't sleep due to thinking about her marriage 15 years ago that ended when her husband of 15 months committed suicide. It isn't written in a stream of consciousness way so much as an interwoven past, present, and cake baking timeline that fluidly moves between the 3. Good luck paying enough attention to keep them all straight. When I can't sleep because of something on my mind, I don't want to be in my own head, much less the depressing reasons for someone else's insomnia. I appreciated the descriptive writing and think it speaks to a great translation. I also think this would be a fantastic piece to discuss in an upper level writing class on fiction as it reads like a master class on snapshot writing. Yet, I didn't really like it, nor would I recommend it.
April 24, 2023
First Dutch, afterwards English
Bijna anderhalf decennium geleden ging echtgenoot Ton dood, na anderhalf jaar huwelijk met de ik-figuur, de verteller. In de afgelopen tijd was het vaak stil en eenzaam. Deze tijd wordt evenals de tijd met Ton beschreven binnen het raamwerk van een slapeloze nacht, waarin zij een taart bakt. Ook al is er veel gebeurd om op terug te kijken, is het vooral de combinatie van de sfeer van verstilling en de alledaagsheid van de activiteiten, waarbinnen de hoofdpersoon probeert tot de kern te komen in haar gedachtestromen: wie was Ton, heb ik hem wezenlijk gekend?
Dit is mijn tweede lezing van deze novelle, die met de titel ‘Op het eerste gezicht’ al onderdeel uitmaakte van de bundel met drie novellen ‘Dubbelportret’, verschenen in 1989. De afzonderlijke uitgave had als aanleiding de Frankfurter Buchmesse 2016, toen Nederland een ‘zwaartepunt’ vormde, en ter gelegenheid waarvan deze novelle in het Duits is vertaald. Ik lees zeer weinig boeken voor een tweede keer, maar ook hier doet zich voor dat het verhaal dichterbij is gekomen.
Of men de ander, zelfs een geliefde, wezenlijk kán kennen, is een vraag die diverse belangrijke schrijvers heeft beziggehouden, in ieder geval Javier Marias in zijn (m.i.) magnum opus ‘Jouw gezicht morgen’ en in bijvoorbeeld ‘Een hart zo blank’ en J.M. Coetzee onder meer in zijn recentste roman ‘De Pool’. Lees vooral de magnifieke recensies die Ilse heeft geschreven over de laatstgenoemde twee romans.
Zie: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
En zie: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
English
Almost a decade and a half ago, husband Ton died, after a year and a half of marriage to the first-person narrator. During this widow period, it was often quiet and lonely. This time as her marriage period with Ton is described within the framework of a sleepless night, during which she bakes a cake. Even though a lot happened to look back on, it is mainly the combination of the atmosphere of stillness and the mundanity of activities, within which the protagonist tries to get to the heart of her streams of thoughts: who was Ton, did I know him, who he really was?
This is my second reading of this novella, which with the title 'At first sight' was already part of the collection of three novellas 'Double Portrait', published in 1989. The separate edition had as its occasion the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair, when the Netherlands was a 'centre of gravity', and on the occasion of which this novella was translated into German. I read very few books for a second time, but here, too, it occurs that the story has become closer.
Whether one can essentially know the other, even a loved one, is a question that several important writers have dealt with, at least Javier Marias in his (in my opinion) magnum opus 'Your Face Tomorrow' and in, for instance, 'A Heart So White', and J.M. Coetzee among others in his most recent novel 'The Pole'. Be sure to read Ilse's magnificent reviews of the latter two novels. JM
See: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And see: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Bijna anderhalf decennium geleden ging echtgenoot Ton dood, na anderhalf jaar huwelijk met de ik-figuur, de verteller. In de afgelopen tijd was het vaak stil en eenzaam. Deze tijd wordt evenals de tijd met Ton beschreven binnen het raamwerk van een slapeloze nacht, waarin zij een taart bakt. Ook al is er veel gebeurd om op terug te kijken, is het vooral de combinatie van de sfeer van verstilling en de alledaagsheid van de activiteiten, waarbinnen de hoofdpersoon probeert tot de kern te komen in haar gedachtestromen: wie was Ton, heb ik hem wezenlijk gekend?
Dit is mijn tweede lezing van deze novelle, die met de titel ‘Op het eerste gezicht’ al onderdeel uitmaakte van de bundel met drie novellen ‘Dubbelportret’, verschenen in 1989. De afzonderlijke uitgave had als aanleiding de Frankfurter Buchmesse 2016, toen Nederland een ‘zwaartepunt’ vormde, en ter gelegenheid waarvan deze novelle in het Duits is vertaald. Ik lees zeer weinig boeken voor een tweede keer, maar ook hier doet zich voor dat het verhaal dichterbij is gekomen.
Of men de ander, zelfs een geliefde, wezenlijk kán kennen, is een vraag die diverse belangrijke schrijvers heeft beziggehouden, in ieder geval Javier Marias in zijn (m.i.) magnum opus ‘Jouw gezicht morgen’ en in bijvoorbeeld ‘Een hart zo blank’ en J.M. Coetzee onder meer in zijn recentste roman ‘De Pool’. Lees vooral de magnifieke recensies die Ilse heeft geschreven over de laatstgenoemde twee romans.
Zie: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
En zie: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
English
Almost a decade and a half ago, husband Ton died, after a year and a half of marriage to the first-person narrator. During this widow period, it was often quiet and lonely. This time as her marriage period with Ton is described within the framework of a sleepless night, during which she bakes a cake. Even though a lot happened to look back on, it is mainly the combination of the atmosphere of stillness and the mundanity of activities, within which the protagonist tries to get to the heart of her streams of thoughts: who was Ton, did I know him, who he really was?
This is my second reading of this novella, which with the title 'At first sight' was already part of the collection of three novellas 'Double Portrait', published in 1989. The separate edition had as its occasion the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair, when the Netherlands was a 'centre of gravity', and on the occasion of which this novella was translated into German. I read very few books for a second time, but here, too, it occurs that the story has become closer.
Whether one can essentially know the other, even a loved one, is a question that several important writers have dealt with, at least Javier Marias in his (in my opinion) magnum opus 'Your Face Tomorrow' and in, for instance, 'A Heart So White', and J.M. Coetzee among others in his most recent novel 'The Pole'. Be sure to read Ilse's magnificent reviews of the latter two novels. JM
See: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And see: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
September 22, 2022
A compact novella that has the unhurried reach of a novel. Over a single night, while her latest new lover slumbers in her bed, and she bakes a Russian Bundt cake, we learn about the unnamed narrator's life, in first-person, about her past and present, that she is still young, a teacher in a small town, the small town that belongs to Ton, her husband, which she has not left, but instead has stayed on though Ton, fourteen months into their seemingly very happy marriage, committed suicide, leaving no note, no explanation, no series of events or emotions that the narrator can recall that might have explained why he did what he did. An evocative story without answers except the truth that despite love we can never truly know another human being, and the silence, confusion, and ambiguity left in the wake of such a death. At times I was fully immersed, in the young widow's story as it slowly comes out, in her relationship with Ton's sister, and her need to be of the world while not fully in it, and at other times I was less immersed, and I'm not sure why. There is musicality in the prose, but occasionally it slips, and I think the lack of explanations, the ambiguity of Ton's death, reduced the huge impact of such a shock, in fiction, a punch like that needs something more to satisfy, to leave a solid imprint on the reader's psyche.
December 16, 2022
De inleiding geeft aan dat de tekst opnieuw bewerkt is in 2017. Toch blijft alles in de jaren tachtig gepositioneerd. De vertelster laat in één slapeloze nacht, met een nieuwe man in haar bed, haar gedachten gaan over haar vorige huwelijk en wat daarna kwam. Interessant is de selectie van momenten in de herinneringen die af en toe onderbroken worden door praktische werkzaamheden tijdens het bakken van een tulband. Hoe verwerken mensen verlies, hoe vinden mensen zichzelf en kunnen we anderen wel altijd invoelen zelfs als we heel dichtbij zijn. Simpel maar goed verwoord.
July 1, 2022
Meh honestly don’t remember much of the book. Very much about grief and loss which hit different. But it was a struggle for me at points. Maybe I need to read this in a diff headspace 🤷🏻♀️
May 19, 2019
#ReadingWomen Challenge 2019 - A novella.
Read
September 26, 2019I really enjoyed the concept of this book: a woman recounts her relationship with her dead husband over the course of a sleepless night. I'm not sure if it was the translation that made it hard for me to follow, or the author's jumpy timelines, but there were parts I had to reread to understand what was going on and when. Overall, it was a quiet, tender reflection on love and loss.
September 24, 2019
Written by the “grand dame of Dutch literature”, Sleepless Night by Margriet de Moor is 122 pages of reminiscing and remembrance. Translated from the Dutch by David Doherty, it follows a widow over one sleepless night as she bakes a Bundt cake in the dead of winter, recalling the unfortunate and early death of her husband, Ton. Many would call this a meditation, but I like to think of it as the nuanced portrait of a woman who defies expectations.
The premise of this novella sounds depressing, but there are some unique points to this story. The first is that her lover is sleeping upstairs, so she’s not reduced to some grief-stricken shell unable to experience passion again, in fact, her previous romantic conquests are described in some detail, and she looks back on them fondly with a sense of humour. Secondly, her and Ton were only married a short time, less than two years, so she’s a fairly young widow, still looking forward to a future of potential love and happiness.
Luckily our protagonist has a few other things going for her; she’s inherited a great deal of land from her husband, who was a farmer, and she’s decided to stay on his property and forge on, must to the surprise of the surrounding village and its inhabitants. She’s also stayed close with her sister-in-law Lucia, who’s a vibrant shot of colour in this otherwise muted narrative. Lucia is encouraging, eager to jump into life in all its forms, and happy to take others along with her. There are very few characters in this book, but the ones that are fully fleshed out and independent are women-they remain steadfast, caregivers in some cases, but always willing to go after what they want. This is a lovely realization that I came to after turning the last page; Moor is unabashedly a supporter and marketer of female strength in all its forms, but the resilience of women is often highlighted in rural areas: they ensure things keep running smoothly even after the male figure departs.
In general, I found this a very ‘cozy’ story to read; not only does it focus on the cold weather outside, but it evokes a general sense of wonder about the snow and ice. At one point, the widow takes her lover on a walk outside in the ice forest to admire the beautiful formations on the trees, and another memory centers on the experience of her and Ton meeting for the first time-they fell through the ice while skating. But again, these are all memories, sometimes weaving in and out of the present day, because the book is taking place over one night, in the warm kitchen, with the oven on. Even though she recounts these icy memories, they are injected with an undercurrent of warmth.
It’s unclear on the exact year the story takes place, but it can roughly be placed in the mid to late 1970s, so reading it in 2019 gave me a mild sense of nostalgia. I imagined the appearance of the kitchen appliances and dishes she would have been using while baking-a colour scheme of orange, pea green and yellow most likely. How can I picture this so clearly in my mind? Because these are the dishes my cottage still holds in its cupboards, and gosh darn they don’t make things like they used to.
Although I read this in the heat of summer, I wish I had left it until the fall or winter months because it’s the perfect little book to curl up with under a blanket and a hot cup of tea. Short, abrupt and thought-provoking, it’s a treat to experience for the hour or two it takes to read it.
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The premise of this novella sounds depressing, but there are some unique points to this story. The first is that her lover is sleeping upstairs, so she’s not reduced to some grief-stricken shell unable to experience passion again, in fact, her previous romantic conquests are described in some detail, and she looks back on them fondly with a sense of humour. Secondly, her and Ton were only married a short time, less than two years, so she’s a fairly young widow, still looking forward to a future of potential love and happiness.
Luckily our protagonist has a few other things going for her; she’s inherited a great deal of land from her husband, who was a farmer, and she’s decided to stay on his property and forge on, must to the surprise of the surrounding village and its inhabitants. She’s also stayed close with her sister-in-law Lucia, who’s a vibrant shot of colour in this otherwise muted narrative. Lucia is encouraging, eager to jump into life in all its forms, and happy to take others along with her. There are very few characters in this book, but the ones that are fully fleshed out and independent are women-they remain steadfast, caregivers in some cases, but always willing to go after what they want. This is a lovely realization that I came to after turning the last page; Moor is unabashedly a supporter and marketer of female strength in all its forms, but the resilience of women is often highlighted in rural areas: they ensure things keep running smoothly even after the male figure departs.
In general, I found this a very ‘cozy’ story to read; not only does it focus on the cold weather outside, but it evokes a general sense of wonder about the snow and ice. At one point, the widow takes her lover on a walk outside in the ice forest to admire the beautiful formations on the trees, and another memory centers on the experience of her and Ton meeting for the first time-they fell through the ice while skating. But again, these are all memories, sometimes weaving in and out of the present day, because the book is taking place over one night, in the warm kitchen, with the oven on. Even though she recounts these icy memories, they are injected with an undercurrent of warmth.
It’s unclear on the exact year the story takes place, but it can roughly be placed in the mid to late 1970s, so reading it in 2019 gave me a mild sense of nostalgia. I imagined the appearance of the kitchen appliances and dishes she would have been using while baking-a colour scheme of orange, pea green and yellow most likely. How can I picture this so clearly in my mind? Because these are the dishes my cottage still holds in its cupboards, and gosh darn they don’t make things like they used to.
Although I read this in the heat of summer, I wish I had left it until the fall or winter months because it’s the perfect little book to curl up with under a blanket and a hot cup of tea. Short, abrupt and thought-provoking, it’s a treat to experience for the hour or two it takes to read it.
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October 7, 2020
It's another of those nights. A night to live through without sleep.
A widow can't sleep through the night. It's been fourteen years since the death of her young husband and yet she finds herself awake in the dead of night, baking pastries and pacing the well-worn floor of her farmhouse. Sleepless Night is one of these very nights. As a new lover sleeps in her bed upstairs, she prepares a Russian bundt cake and revisits her old thoughts and memories—and some new ones about her recent lover.
Before this night, the widow spent years attempting to unravel the circumstances of her husband's death by suicide. He left no note. They had been married hardly over a year. Only in his absence does she sense the space that lived between them, a feeling that only grows as she continues to investigate. Moving seamlessly from present to past and weaving masterfully through multiple timelines we get a portrait of a woman grappling with her past. Contrary to what you might think from the plot summary I found there to be warmth to this story.
There was a levity to this book that was unexpected and very welcome. I guess I had anticipated by its summary something a bit more bleak. I think it comes from the authenticity of the characters that the author manages to achieve in a very short number of pages and the tenderness with which they are written. Between the wintry, rural setting, the meditative quality of the story and the prose itself, it adds up to something beautifully sensory and, dare I say, charming. When I try to describe the quality of the writing, I keep picturing the tinkling of winter bells, soft and hypnotic.
Thank you to New Vessel Press for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
July 8, 2019
Sleepless Night–though easy enough to summarize–is fairly difficult to describe.
The short version is this: a woman, unable to sleep, gets up in the middle of the night to bake.
However, it is in those quiet hours that we not only get to know this woman in her present life, but her past as well. As she contemplates her husband’s suicide, she remembers her youth. Friends of long ago and a life from another time. After so many years, she still finds herself wondering why her husband took his own life. And now, she finds herself wondering what will come next and if there is a chance for love again.
It’s a twisty, thought-provoking novel that reveals so much about this nameless woman. While there are no plot twists or mind-bending revelations, it is a story of loss and tragedy. Love and hope. Something about the author’s writing is simplistic yet beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed this short read.
My one complaint is the convoluted progression of the story. Perhaps this could have been remedied by a better book layout rather than a major overhaul of the content itself. However, I found myself confused on more than one occasion as the narrator switched from present day to some distant memory. People and places would suddenly shift and I would have to figure out which time period I had been dropped in.
Read my full review at: https://sevendaysaweek.co/sleepless-n...
The short version is this: a woman, unable to sleep, gets up in the middle of the night to bake.
However, it is in those quiet hours that we not only get to know this woman in her present life, but her past as well. As she contemplates her husband’s suicide, she remembers her youth. Friends of long ago and a life from another time. After so many years, she still finds herself wondering why her husband took his own life. And now, she finds herself wondering what will come next and if there is a chance for love again.
It’s a twisty, thought-provoking novel that reveals so much about this nameless woman. While there are no plot twists or mind-bending revelations, it is a story of loss and tragedy. Love and hope. Something about the author’s writing is simplistic yet beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed this short read.
My one complaint is the convoluted progression of the story. Perhaps this could have been remedied by a better book layout rather than a major overhaul of the content itself. However, I found myself confused on more than one occasion as the narrator switched from present day to some distant memory. People and places would suddenly shift and I would have to figure out which time period I had been dropped in.
Read my full review at: https://sevendaysaweek.co/sleepless-n...
March 18, 2021
I can appreciate the subtlety of what this work was trying to do, and the lack of emotional intensity was most likely deliberate and instrumental. However, the vagueness of the anecdotes, the nebulousness of the characters' personalities, the lack of sensory detail all made the story feel less real rather than more universal.
It was relentlessly melancholy, at times fascinating, realistic in its confusion and lack of resolution - but in a way that left me bitter and confused, rather than satisfied by the quality of the work.
It was relentlessly melancholy, at times fascinating, realistic in its confusion and lack of resolution - but in a way that left me bitter and confused, rather than satisfied by the quality of the work.
October 15, 2016
Damit wurde ich bis zum Schluss nicht warm - dabei mochte ich die Autorin. ..
August 7, 2025
Rating: 5* of five
The Publisher Says: A woman gets up in the middle of a wintry night and starts baking a cake while her lover sleeps upstairs. When it's time for her to take the cake out of the oven, we have read a story of romance and death. The narrator of this novel was widowed years ago and is trying to find new passion. But the memory of her deceased husband and a shameful incident still holds her in its grasp. Why did he do it?
Margriet de Moor, the grande dame of Dutch literature, tells a gripping love story about endings and demise, rage and jealousy, knowledge and ambiguity—and the possibility of new beginnings.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: When I get a deMoor translation, I hop right on reading it because I know I'll go deep into a fascinating place. First Grey, Then White, Then Blue seduced me into her fan club thirty-plus years ago; then, over the years, a few other tries at getting Anglophones interested in her storytelling have been made. None has riled up the delighted baying and howling I feel she deserves for her beautiful, considered, lapidary work.
Oh...I think I see why others aren't flocking to get her latest. More fools they be.
This story will speak loudest to those among us who have lost a love. Left behind to make sense of the life we now live, our love now unreturned, figuring out how the hell to keep plowing through endless, cheerless, drift-filled days and then...horror of self-sadism...those reflective contemplative unanswerable-questioning nights.
Bake a cake!
In this case a tulbandcake (here translated as a "bundt cake" which, yes, but in a curious way, no):
A tulbandcake showing its candied-fruit interior and cool fluting
Staying busy, trying to keep your thoughts out of the toxic death-spiral of loneliness, resentment, anger, hollowness; that's all so relatable, and more poignant because on this night she's come to her kitchen to escape a man she's trying to find a passion for who is sleeping (she thinks) in her bed. He's been left behind as well...though her abandonment is to the love of her life's suicide some time ago and his to his wife's unwillingness to be married to him. That's it, that's the sum total of his existence in this story; having been him before I'll say it's my considered opinion he's lying awake wondering what the hell he's doing where he is when she's not even willing to be there with him for afters.
That said, the love of her life gave up on her, their brand-new life together, and on Life. That leaves a scar. What this nocturnal awakening is about is that scar. Is she so puckered and warped by it there's no longer a way to lie flat again? Is this hopelessness real or imagined? Can she tell the difference? How can she tell the difference?
Is the cake ready?
Because if it is, it needs to come out and cool down so it can be eaten.
IYKYK.
The Publisher Says: A woman gets up in the middle of a wintry night and starts baking a cake while her lover sleeps upstairs. When it's time for her to take the cake out of the oven, we have read a story of romance and death. The narrator of this novel was widowed years ago and is trying to find new passion. But the memory of her deceased husband and a shameful incident still holds her in its grasp. Why did he do it?
Margriet de Moor, the grande dame of Dutch literature, tells a gripping love story about endings and demise, rage and jealousy, knowledge and ambiguity—and the possibility of new beginnings.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: When I get a deMoor translation, I hop right on reading it because I know I'll go deep into a fascinating place. First Grey, Then White, Then Blue seduced me into her fan club thirty-plus years ago; then, over the years, a few other tries at getting Anglophones interested in her storytelling have been made. None has riled up the delighted baying and howling I feel she deserves for her beautiful, considered, lapidary work.
Oh...I think I see why others aren't flocking to get her latest. More fools they be.
This story will speak loudest to those among us who have lost a love. Left behind to make sense of the life we now live, our love now unreturned, figuring out how the hell to keep plowing through endless, cheerless, drift-filled days and then...horror of self-sadism...those reflective contemplative unanswerable-questioning nights.
Bake a cake!
In this case a tulbandcake (here translated as a "bundt cake" which, yes, but in a curious way, no):
A tulbandcake showing its candied-fruit interior and cool fluting
Staying busy, trying to keep your thoughts out of the toxic death-spiral of loneliness, resentment, anger, hollowness; that's all so relatable, and more poignant because on this night she's come to her kitchen to escape a man she's trying to find a passion for who is sleeping (she thinks) in her bed. He's been left behind as well...though her abandonment is to the love of her life's suicide some time ago and his to his wife's unwillingness to be married to him. That's it, that's the sum total of his existence in this story; having been him before I'll say it's my considered opinion he's lying awake wondering what the hell he's doing where he is when she's not even willing to be there with him for afters.
That said, the love of her life gave up on her, their brand-new life together, and on Life. That leaves a scar. What this nocturnal awakening is about is that scar. Is she so puckered and warped by it there's no longer a way to lie flat again? Is this hopelessness real or imagined? Can she tell the difference? How can she tell the difference?
Is the cake ready?
Because if it is, it needs to come out and cool down so it can be eaten.
IYKYK.
May 4, 2024
Es ist immer das Gleiche: eine Anzeige, ein flüchtiges Kennenlernen und eine einzige Nacht. Danach sieht man sich nie wieder. Für sie ist es die einzig mögliche Art, mit dem Tod ihres Mannes umzugehen. So kann sie verdrängen, was damals passiert ist. Bis zu der Nacht, in der es nicht mehr funktioniert. Niemand spricht darüber, was passiert ist. Jeder nennt es nur das Unglück Chicorée-Treibhaus, dabei war es das nicht. Ihr Mann hat sich erschossen und noch immer versteht sie das Warum nicht, denn es gab nie etwas, das darauf hingedeutet hat.
Margriet de Moor erzählt die Geschichte einer Frau, deren Leben stehen geblieben ist und die nicht schlafen kann. Auch in dieser Nacht nicht. Deshalb schleicht sie sich aus dem Bett und beginnt zu backen. Dieser Geruch ist das Erste, was ich in dem Buch wahrnehme. Für mich ist es symptomatisch für die Geschichte. Man verdrängt, was passiert ist und beschäftigt sich lieber mit etwas Greifbareren. Das ist auf der einen Seite verständlich, aber es verschiebt nur den Moment, an dem man sich mit dem Geschehenen auseinandersetzen muss.
Je mehr ich aus dem Leben des Ehepaars erfahre, desto mehr erkenne ich, dass das Leben der Beiden vielleicht doch nicht so frei von Problemen war, wie es den Anschein hatte. Rückblickend sieht man immer mehr als in der Situation direkt. Trotzdem fällt es auch dann noch schwer, die Wahrheit zu erkennen. In dem Roman bleibt vieles ungesagt. Ich hätte gerne gewusst, wie es weitergeht. Kann sie ihrem Mann und sich verzeihen, damit es die letzte schlaflose Nacht wird? Auf diese Fragen bekomme ich keine Antwort, aber ich glaube, das war auch nicht die Absicht der Autorin.
Margriet de Moor erzählt die Geschichte einer Frau, deren Leben stehen geblieben ist und die nicht schlafen kann. Auch in dieser Nacht nicht. Deshalb schleicht sie sich aus dem Bett und beginnt zu backen. Dieser Geruch ist das Erste, was ich in dem Buch wahrnehme. Für mich ist es symptomatisch für die Geschichte. Man verdrängt, was passiert ist und beschäftigt sich lieber mit etwas Greifbareren. Das ist auf der einen Seite verständlich, aber es verschiebt nur den Moment, an dem man sich mit dem Geschehenen auseinandersetzen muss.
Je mehr ich aus dem Leben des Ehepaars erfahre, desto mehr erkenne ich, dass das Leben der Beiden vielleicht doch nicht so frei von Problemen war, wie es den Anschein hatte. Rückblickend sieht man immer mehr als in der Situation direkt. Trotzdem fällt es auch dann noch schwer, die Wahrheit zu erkennen. In dem Roman bleibt vieles ungesagt. Ich hätte gerne gewusst, wie es weitergeht. Kann sie ihrem Mann und sich verzeihen, damit es die letzte schlaflose Nacht wird? Auf diese Fragen bekomme ich keine Antwort, aber ich glaube, das war auch nicht die Absicht der Autorin.
December 9, 2019
A slim, seemingly light, but ultimately substantive novel about love, loneliness and memory. In less than 120 pages de Moor beautifully depicts the thoughts and nocturnal behavior of a woman who 10 years before had became a widow in her early 20s after having been married only 14 months, and who through her bouts of sleeplessness bakes cakes in the middle of the night. The novel takes place during a single sleepless night but there are multiple flashback as she ruminates about her marriage, what it means to love and be loved and how and when do you consider a place home.
I think I'm making it sound too heavy and dour. For all of its profound subjects the novel still feels light, lyrical and is beautifully written.
I think I'm making it sound too heavy and dour. For all of its profound subjects the novel still feels light, lyrical and is beautifully written.
August 8, 2023
Deze novelle gaat over een jonge vrouw die na een huwelijk van slechts 14 maanden haar echtgenoot verliest door zelfdoding. Hij maakte met een pistoolschot een einde aan zijn leven. De vrouw blijft in verbijstering achter. Ze meent terug te kijken op een liefdevol huwelijk en kan zijn daad niet begrijpen. Ze probeert nieuwe relaties aan te knopen en ook greep te krijgen op wat er is gebeurd, onder meer door veel contact met de zus van haar overleden man. Doorwaakte nachten kwellen haar. In deze autobiografische roman van Margriet de Moor die zij op latere leeftijd herschreef weet ze de combinatie van liefde, wanhoop en schuldgevoel goed weer te geven. Het is geen simpel chronologisch verteld verhaal, maar het roept wel de beelden op waar je als lezer mee aan de slag kunt.
September 24, 2017
Een jonge vrouw slaapt, op advies van een vriendin, met onbekende mannen na de onverwachte zelfmoord van haar man, na amper 14 maanden huwelijk.
Geen idee want het boek begon veelbelovend, ze is wakker en bakt en je komt in haar wereld terecht waarin zij jong weduwe geworden is maar gaandeweg gaat het boek over alles en niets, alsof de verhaallijnen dooreen geknoopt geraakt zijn.
Je komt bijna niet door het hoofdpersonage, ze blijft ahw vlak. En ook hij blijft op de een of andere manier een mysterie.
Het boek sprak me niet zo aan hoewel de achterflap zeer veelbelovend was.
http://www.wpg.be/boek/slapeloze-nach...
Geen idee want het boek begon veelbelovend, ze is wakker en bakt en je komt in haar wereld terecht waarin zij jong weduwe geworden is maar gaandeweg gaat het boek over alles en niets, alsof de verhaallijnen dooreen geknoopt geraakt zijn.
Je komt bijna niet door het hoofdpersonage, ze blijft ahw vlak. En ook hij blijft op de een of andere manier een mysterie.
Het boek sprak me niet zo aan hoewel de achterflap zeer veelbelovend was.
http://www.wpg.be/boek/slapeloze-nach...
February 28, 2025
The prose was subtle like the cold winter night during which the events took place. The unnamed narrator was full of anger and grief as she continued to grapple with not truly understanding her husband of 14 months even 15 years after his tragic death. The novella began as the narrator got out of bed in the middle of the night and she reflected on her life as she waited for her cake to bake. I don’t usually like nonlinear storytelling but the flashbacks within flashbacks were interesting. The fact that the events were ambiguous and some pieces of her story remained untold added to the intrigue for me but won’t satisfy every reader.
March 20, 2019
thanks so much @new_vessel_press for gifting me this advance copy of the lovely
SLEEPLESS NIGHT by margriet de moor (fiction) a widow desperate to find solace and the answer to her husband’s haunting story + though spare, this gem requires careful reflection on the things left unsaid
•
“The fever of sleeplessness drives people to do the strangest things.”
•
get your hands on this beauty may 7th!
•
instagram book reviews @brettlikesbooks
SLEEPLESS NIGHT by margriet de moor (fiction) a widow desperate to find solace and the answer to her husband’s haunting story + though spare, this gem requires careful reflection on the things left unsaid
•
“The fever of sleeplessness drives people to do the strangest things.”
•
get your hands on this beauty may 7th!
•
instagram book reviews @brettlikesbooks
January 20, 2018
durch die zahlreichen zeitsprünge kannte ich mich oft nicht aus. auch die sprache ist an manchen stellen sonderbar. liegt das an der übersetzung? (oft beginnen aufeinanderfolgende sätze mit dem selben wort)
leider ist mir nicht ganz klar was genau der handlungsablauf dieser geschichte war.
jedoch hat mich die Thematik gepackt und eine stimmung konnte es mir gut vermitteln.
leider ist mir nicht ganz klar was genau der handlungsablauf dieser geschichte war.
jedoch hat mich die Thematik gepackt und eine stimmung konnte es mir gut vermitteln.
August 30, 2017
De tekst op de achterflap is interessanter dan de rest van het boekje. Alleen een beschrijving van die nacht had ik leuker gevonden, nu werd er van alles bijgehaald. Maar nog steeds een enjoyable read
February 15, 2022
I liked reading it but in the end i was not very pleased. I loved how the character was so gentle and I loved the switches between throwbacks and now. Quick and fun read that makes you think about Suicide.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews