A "powerful tale of romantic regret" (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer),
Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2001, and finalist for the French Prix
Medicis, On the Water tells the poignant story of Anton and David, two
oarsmen trained by a mysterious German coach in the golden Amsterdam
summer of 1939. Anton stands on the banks of his beloved river years
later, on the wintry eve of Holland's liberation, and mourns a lost
world. David, his Jewish teammate and quiet obsession from that magical
summer, has disappeared, and the boathouse is now derelict and deserted.
Spare, lyrical, and nuanced, On the Water is quietly enormous, capturing
a moment so precise and exact it is as if caught in amber -- a rowing
club in Amsterdam and two of its competitors from very different
backgrounds, set against the backdrop of the oncoming war. The menace of
tragedy to come is subtly woven into the story of the two boys whose
only concerns are practices, races, and themselves. In the end, all that
is left for Anton is the memory of his supreme happiness that summer.
"...beautiful, vivid writing...van den Brink describes the grace,
ecstasy, and agony of rowing, the miracle of its teamwork harmony." --
Carmela Ciuraru, The Washington Post Book World "[A] small miracle of
a book." -- Daniel Topolski, The Guardian
