Breakwater

* Widely compared to the work of Ian McEwan, with an ending that mocks classical forms and norms
* Marijke Schermer’s debut novel, published in 2016, before *Love, If That’s What It Is,* but never translated into English
* World Editions has published Schermers 2nd book already in 2022, to a great *Publishers Weekly* review: “The author expertly humanizes each of the characters’ desires and flaws as she illuminates the raw, inner workings of a broken marriage. This is as cathartic as it is gut-churning. (Feb.)”
* As she did in *Love, If That’s What It Is* , Schermer brings forth the unspoken paradoxes that lurk in every household; the need to be sheltered versus the desire to be free, the craving for intimacy versus the inability to share one’s secrets
* A woman who seems to have it all is haunted by a traumatic experience of sexual violence in her past, which she has kept hidden from her husband and her inability to tell him drives the couple apart
* Timely climate-change angle, as heavy rains and flooding mirror the main character’s emotional turmoil
* Schermer’s knife-sharp observations about human behavior and the incompetence to express oneself and really communicate with each other are absolutely masterful
* A refreshingly non-conformist take on marriage and the loss of personal identity that comes with it
* Breakwater is currently being made into a film
* Books about marriage and secrets are a category in their own right, with lots of dedicated readers
* Books about Marriage and Secret titles on *Book Riot* https://bookriot.com/books-about-marriage-and-secrets/
* Rights sold: Germany (Kampa Verlag), Denmark (Grif), Spain (Alfaguara)
* Shortlisted for the ECI Literary Prize 2017