A mysterious order of nuns promises Kaspar Krone, a circus clown with a gambling debt who is wanted for tax evasion, a reprieve from the authorities in exchange for his help in safeguarding children with mystical abilities--talents that he also shares.

Autorentext

Peter Høeg, born in 1957 in Denmark, pursued various interests-dancer, actor, sailor, fencer, and mountaineer-before turning seriously to writing. His work has been published in 33 countries. The Quiet Girl is his fifth novel. Høeg writes prose that is both changeable and as deep-fathomed as poetry...[It] demands to be read aloud and savored.-The New Yorker on Smilla's Sense of Snow

Klappentext

The internationally acclaimed bestselling author of Smilla's Sense of Snow returns with this "engrossing, beautifully written tale of suspense . . . captivating" (The Miami Herald).

Set in Denmark in the here and now, Peter Hoeg's The Quiet Girl centers around Kaspar Krone, a world-renowned circus clown with a deep love for the music of Johan Sebastian Bach, and an even deeper gambling debt. Wanted for tax evasion and on the verge of extradition, Krone is drafted into the service of a mysterious order of nuns who promise him reprieve from the international authorities in return for his help safeguarding a group of children with mystical abilities -- abilities that Krone also shares.

When one of the children goes missing, Krone sets off to find the young girl and bring her back, making a shocking series of discoveries along the way about her identity and the true intentions of his young wards. The result is a fast-paced, philosophical thriller blending social realism with the literary fantastic and pitting art and spirituality against corporate interests and nothing less than the will to war by the industrialized world.

The Quiet Girl is a masterful, inventive novel that marks the triumphal return of one of the great writers of the international literary world.