Mathijs Deen The Lightship

Nominated for the Libris Literature Prize 2021

For the crew aboard the lightship, the work is monotonous, the living quarters cramped and the pay minimal. The men hold watch, chart the weather, note the names of passing ships and keep the light running. During storms the ship jerks at its chain, in thick fog the foghorn blasts, on clear nights the stars are innumerable. And after four weeks the men can go back ashore. The moment they all eagerly await.

At the centre of the small community at sea is the cook Lammert, who prepares meals three times a day at fixed hours. Lammert is the most important man on the ship. Food offers consolation and stability in this isolated life. Things carry on as they usually do, until the day he wants to slaughter a young goat for a stew. The arrival of this young, jumpy animal upsets the fixed routine aboard the lightship and puts relationships on edge.

World rights: Thomas Rap – Rights sold: mare Verlag (Germany), Iperborea (Italy) – Novel –125 pages – September 2020 – Featured in New Dutch Fiction from the Foundation for Dutch Literature – Full German and English sample translation available