The Boundless River

Affectionate and eccentric . . . The Boundless River is as intimate a portrait of a river as you'll find without getting wet * Financial Times * [A] stirring and accessible history of the mighty Rhine. Deen soon learns to think of the Rhine, and of all rivers, in rather different, more expansive - and considerably less human-governed - terms: and in this learning lies the strength and electricity in his book * Irish Times * It's easy to be swept away by Deen's delightful prose . . . In his conclusion, Deen notes that geology makes him feel ""small and arbitrary"" and ""surprised by my surroundings"". It's to his credit that The Boundless River has a similar effect on the reader * New Statesman * Deen has an impressive historical knowledge that enables him to travel effortlessly through the centuries. * De Volkskrant * An extraordinary capacity for empathy, a sound style, conscientious research and a flair for succinct details. Each story is a sketch of a life, of a society, of a zeitgeist. * De Morgen * Like Geert Mak, he knows how to bring history to life, thanks to his compelling style and his poetic imagination. * De Volkskrant * Deen is an exceptional prose stylist * Het Parool * Fluidly translated by Jane Headley-Prole and Jonathan Reeder, Mathijs Deen's prose is much like the river it describes: boldly genre-crossing, it gushes and cascades. The Boundless River is a joy to read, not least because it renders geological time so palpable . . . An ever-shifting reminder of ancient time, the author's Rhine puts us humans firmly in our temporal place * Times Literary Supplement *