We and Me

"Saskia de Coster’s We and Me is a great dark beauty, and simultaneously, a true original and a reminder of why that endangered species, the novel, remains essential: no other narrative form is so expansive, so complex, so human, and so true." —Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours

“We and Me is a novel that will haunt me for a long time. Excellent and unforgettable.” —Herman Koch, author of The Dinner

In this spellbinding novel, which has been compared to the work of Jonathan Franzen, Dave Eggers, and Jeffrey Eugenides, Saskia de Coster provides a uniquely European take on the tradition of "The Great American Novel." With the family unit and some of life’s most pressing questions at its center, the award-winning We and Me paints a captivatingly haunting picture of bourgeois family life.

Written from several different perspectives, We and Me covers the time period between 1980 and 2013 and focuses on the aristocratic Vandersanden family. Set in their opulent private estate located atop a mountain, neuroses, claustrophobia, scandal and rebellion run rife. At the heart of the family and the novel is Sarah, whose coming of age is both daringly and sensitively explored in de Coster’s skillful prose.

With her characteristically incisive approach, de Coster excavates the nuanced underbelly of human emotions with humor, understanding, and a lightness of touch. We and Me is a remarkable and compelling tale by one of the greatest Belgian writers of our time.

SASKIA DE COSTER is a Belgian artist, playwright, and author. We and Me won the Cutting Edge Award and the Opzij Literature Prize and has been nominated for several other prestigious prizes. Her work has been translated into ten languages.

NANCY FOREST-FLIER is a New Jersey–born translator who moved to Europe in 1982 and has worked in the Netherlands since 1988. She lives in Alkmaar. Her literary translations include The King by Kader Abdolah, Dissident for Life by Koenraad de Wolf, Gliding Flight by Anne-Gine Goemans, We and Me by Saskia de Coster, Mr. Miller by Charles den Tex, Departure Time by Truus Matti, Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, and The Story of Shit by Midas Dekkers. Nancy also translates children’s literature and has translated for numerous Dutch museums and institutes, including The Anne Frank House and the Kröller-Müller Museum (home to the world’s second largest Van Gogh collection).