While the Gods Were Sleeping

Best Translated Fiction of the Year, The Independent   This stunning historical fiction novel about the magnitude and impact of World War I—told through the written memories of an elderly Belgian woman—has “the footprint of Proust . . . on every page” (Financial Times)   As a girl, Helena is sent to her uncle’s country house just before the Great War, and from here she witnesses scenes of indescribable horror. But it is also where she meets Matthew again—a British Army photographer who she goes on to marry. Decades later, the elderly Helena reflects on this pivotal time in her life, recording her memories in a series of notebooks . . .   While the Gods Were Sleeping a story not about spectacular events; rather, author Erwin Mortier is concerned with writing about war, history, and the past with great empathy and engagement, and with a mixture of melancholy, qualification, and resignation.