Hard Skin
A woman undergoes a magical metamorphosis into a yak in a captivating story about loss and grief
Sarlag is a 26-year-old woman working in the freezer section of a grocery store somewhere in the middle of the Netherlands. She seems completely ordinary. With a cool, detached gaze, she observes her surroundings and thinks about yaks, those loyal animals with their white fur that live on the steppes of Mongolia, where she grew up.
She looks back on her childhood: climbing volcanoes, riding horses, a little brother she loves to play with, a father who is a ‘cloud-chaser’ with the ability to conjure rain. It’s a world full of magic. The warm animal fur that little Sarlag could sink her hands into contrasts with the frozen products in the grocery store, which she moulds into fantastical shapes before putting them back into the freezers.
Why does she live so far away from her family? The reason is revealed halfway through the book: her brother died in a car accident. Her father, who was behind the wheel, refused to speak of what happened and even stopped talking altogether. It’s a universal story: people who are incapable of dealing with their grief and instead run away from it or change who they are completely. Sarlag closes herself off from her surroundings: ‘I want to be alone, but preferably with other people around me.’
But one way or another, grief will find its way to the surface. Her nails become hard and gnarled and long white hair starts growing on her stomach and back – a layer of down that keeps getting thicker. Is this really happening? Slowly but surely, Sarlag begins to change into a yak… She leaves the house and runs all the way out of the city, because as a yak she can’t possibly stay where she is
Bouwman’s tone is dark and light at the same time. Gripping and moving, this highly original novel about grief and trauma is an ode to the imagination – a wonderful combination of the Dutch down-to-earth mentality and the magic of old Mongolian stories.
Rights
Shared Stories
Hayo Deinum
hayo@sharedstories.nl
“‘A bold, inventive novel, though the writer’s restraint almost obfuscates just how daring it is.”
“It’s impressive how Bouwman builds the kind of suspense that makes you want to keep reading, both through the way she breadcrumbs information and through her vivid, visceral prose.”
“A wildly original debut.”
“A wholly original novel about how grief can alienate and transform us. Bouwman is a keen observer who confidently dissects complex emotions with levity and compassion. A unique debut.”
