Agathe
Anne Cathrine Bomann
Internationally acclaimed debut novel – sold to 30 territories and winner of the Italian literary prize Scrivere per Amore.
A psychiatrist is counting down toward his upcoming retirement. He lives alone in his childhood home and has neither friends nor family.
Often, he resorts to drawing bird caricatures of his patients instead of taking notes. His social life consists of brief conversations with his meticulous secretary, Madame Surrugue, who has reigned over the clinic for more than thirty years. The two of them have no relationship outside the office, where everything runs smoothly and uneventfully.
Until one day, that is, when a young German woman called Agathe arrives and demands to see the doctor, and he soon realizes that underneath her fragile exterior is a strong and fascinating woman. The doctor and Agathe embark upon a course of therapy together, a process that forces the doctor to confront his fear of true intimacy outside the clinic. But is it too late to reconsider your existence as a seventy-one-year-old?
ORIGINAL TITLE: Agathe
YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2017
PUBLISHER: Brændpunkt (original) Lindhardt & Ringhof (2022)
PAGES: 158 pages
MATERIAL: Danish edition, English edition translated by Caroline Waight, synopsis
Rights sold
Arabic (world rights): Sefsafa Culture & Publishing
Brazil: Numa Editora
Canada (English): Book*hug Press
China (Simplified Chinese): United Sky
Croatia: Perga Media
Czech Republic: Host
Denmark: Lindhardt & Ringhof
Estonia: Hea Lugu
Finland: Gummerus
France (world rights): Éditions La Peuplade (paperback: J'ai lu)
Germany: hanserblau (paperback: btb)
Hungary: Jelenkor
Iceland: Bjartur
Italy: Iperborea
Japan: Hayakawa
Korea: Solbitkil
Latvia: Zvaigzne ABC
Lithuania: Balto
The Netherlands: Signatuur
Norway: Gloria
Poland: Stara Szkola
Russia: Corpus
Serbia: Vulkan
Spain and Latin America: Anagrama
Spain (Catalan): Anagrama
Sweden: Sekwa
Taiwan (Complex Chinese): Marco Polo Press
UK: Sceptre
Vietnam: Tazano Company
Film/TV Rights
Available
Praise
“Astounding.”
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG
“Bringing together two people ill-treated and disillusioned by life, Agathe beguiles with its cosy atmosphere and the immense attention the author gives to the emotions of its sometimes bumbling characters. In this debut novel, there is a delicate sensibility reminiscent of Emmanuel Bove.”
LE MONDE
“Charming, funny and packed with insight.”
THE IRISH TIMES
“It is a shrewd, skilful tale of loneliness, the search for meaning and a place in the world, and the problems of truly relating to another human being.”
THE INDEPENDENT
“Anne Cathrine Bomann delves into every human relationship's dark side. She gently and empathically deals with essential questions.”
CORRIERE DELLA SERA
“A small but magnificent piece with universal scope. The writing is careful, concise and straightforward and is reminiscent of the French writer Patrick Modiano's elegant and thoughtful way of writing about big existential themes.”
JYLLANDS-POSTEN ★★★★★
“A novella about an elderly psychiatrist in 1940s Paris makes for an unlikely literary phenomenon. But Anne Cathrine Bomann's debut novel is a quietly uplifting masterpiece.”
STYLIST
“This short, uplifting book brings us a more fully-realized character than most authors could manage with three times the room, and some painfully hard-won moments of genuine human contact in an arid life.”
THE HERALD
“Bomann is a psychologist herself … and she effectively makes her case for the importance of opening one's eyes and heart.”
DAILY MAIL
“Anne Cathrine Bomann gently handles a subject she proves to know very well.”
LA REPUBBLICA
“This might be the universal read we all need.”
TORONTO STAR
“Danish author Anne-Cathrine Boumann puts her 72-year-old narrator, a taciturn repressor, with satirical brilliance on stage in front of his patients.”
STERN
“I absolutely adored this book and read it in one sitting.”
THE SUN
“Fabulous … Bomann creates loveable characters with 'Amélie' Flair.”
BARBARA
“A small book full of lust for life. Beautiful!”
DONNA
“Excellent read: Danish Anne Cathrine Bomann writes wonderfully effortlessly and tenderly … about the longing for closeness and friendship.”
GALA
“A remarkable, timid debut by a young Danish psychologist about loneliness and the courage to pick yourself up and make something out of life.”
ZIN
awards and nominations
2020 – Shortlisted for the Libr’à Nous Literary Prize (France)
2020 – Nominated for the Storytel Awards (Finland)
2019 – Winner of The Scrivere per Amore award (Italy)
In 2019, Agatha was awarded the Italian literary prize Scrivere per Amore. The jury's citation read:
“Anne Cathrine Bomann's simple yet profound sentences allow the reader to come close to her characters without losing sight of their contradictions and vulnerabilities. Anne Cathrine Bomann tells us about the people we surprisingly reveal ourselves to be when someone unexpectedly enters our lives. She describes a surprising and unique encounter, a meeting where subjective truth emerges as soon as masks and fictions fall away, and each party learns to face themselves and come to terms with themselves: These are the necessary conditions for love to grow.”