The Bells of Bruges

Author: Georges Rodenbach

Translator: Mike Mitchell   Cover illustration: Frans Masereel  

Shortlisted for The Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize for 2008.

The Bells of Bruges is a study of obsessive love which is steeped in the melancholy beauty of Bruges.

There are three loves in the life of Joris Borluut, the town carillonneur of Bruges. He marries the fiery Barbara, whose dark beauty is a reminder of Belgium's Spanish heritage. Repelled by her harshness and violence, he starts an affair with her sister, the gentle, soulful, fair-haired Godelieve. When her sister discovers their affair, Godelieve enters a Beguine convent and Joris devotes himself to his first love, the old city of Bruges.

it will appeal to lovers of Symbolist prose and fin-de-siecle fiction. Essential reading for anyone visiting Bruges.