My Heavenly Favourite by Lucas Rijneveld

During the sweltering summer of 2005, a 14-year-old farmer’s daughter forms an unlikely bond with the local veterinarian who cares for her father’s cows. The veterinarian, having reached ‘the biblical age of seven times seven,’ is seeking to escape his past traumas, while she seeks refuge in a world of fantasy. Their intense dependence on each other’s stories spirals into a dangerous trap, culminating in a confession that threatens to tear their small Dutch community apart.

Indelible and audacious, this novel captivates with its paradoxical beauty and gripping prose. Rijneveld’s keen literary skill and deep exploration of human instincts make My Heavenly Favourite a standout on the global literary stage.

“Exceptional.” – Financial Times
“Exhilarating.” – Independent
“Luminous.” – Observer
“Beautifully wild.” – Guardian

Author Biography: Lucas Rijneveld was born in 1991 in the Netherlands and grew up in a Reformed farming family. His first novel, The Discomfort of Evening, won the Booker International Prize 2020 and the ANV Debut Prize. In the same year the Dutch edition of My Heavenly Favourite was published and was shortlisted for the Libris Literature Prize and was awarded both the Boon and F. Bordewijk prizes. Rijneveld’s work has been translated into 39 languages. Michele Hutchison is a literary translator from Dutch and French into English. In 2020, Michele won the Vondel Translation Prize for her translation of ‘Stage Four’ by Sander Kollaard and the International Booker Prize together with author Lucas Rijneveld for The Discomfort of Evening.