Sea Now

'Sea Now unfolds from both broad and intimate perspectives with a voice that, in Anne Thompson Melo’s translation, is delightful and terrifying in its simplicity [...] It isn’t just a human story, but one of overfished fishes learning not to be afraid; of shellfishes, birds, rabbits, and ‘sea-being’; of horses discovering that ‘what they mean by freedom [is] the seaweed that moves inside you’; of whether, like mussels and octopuses, ‘the sea dreams’... In its regard for other-than-human Earthlings, Sea Now joins Meijer’s rich oeuvre of novels and philosophical meditations on multispecies coexistence. One could read this novel as the story of two characters—the Netherlands and the sea—posing a question of each other: What am I? What and who is “the Netherlands”? What and who is “the sea”? The first question implicates uncomfortable stories of value: Who determines the status quo that decides who or what (a foreigner?, a painting?) deserves to be saved, who or what (a US-trained scientist?, the Dutch language?) would count as a loss? [...] Meijer’s prose, in Melo’s hands, flows quietly with a consistent bittersweetness, and the novel’s pervasively dreamlike quality underscores the true horror of this entirely realistic scenario.' - Mandy-Suzanne Wong, Asymptote

Praise for Meijer's previous work:

'Convincing... entertaining and thought-provoking' - The Guardian

'The author's fluid, seemingly weightless prose is perfectly matched to the birds she describes... will be a source of great pleasure for birders and readers alike' - Country Life

'Truly original... There's a sense of birdlike lightness and agility about this episodic, elliptical novel' - Daily Mail