Hard Copy - by Fien Veldman

About the Book

An incisive debut novel-in-translation about a woman who becomes obsessed with her office printer, for fans of Sayaka Murata and Halle Butler.

Book Synopsis

Spending long hours in her claustraphobic office cubicle, a customer service assistant is struggling. Isolated, frustrated and lonely, she finds comfort in only one thing: the office printer. As she confides in the printer about her hopes and dreams, her fears and her past, it becomes clear to her that he is listening. But to her employees, the blossoming relationship is a worrying cry for help.

Diagnosed with burnout and placed on leave, she faces severance and - worse - separation from her beloved printer. But she's not about to give up on her only friend without a fight. And, it turns out, neither is he.

'A talented new voice worth paying attention to.' Irish Times
'Equal parts searing intelligence and madcap sweetness. Simply brilliant.' Jenny Mustard
'Very funny on the tedium of office life.' Irish Independent
'Intimate and surprising at every turn... A truly one-of-a-kind novel: I loved it.' Sarah Maria Griffin
This novel has it all. It's smart, captivating, poignant, absurd, moving, and terribly funny.' Jente Posthuma

Review Quotes

"Despite its whimsical premise, Hard Copy is at its heart a joyful, tender, and strangely relatable novel. With sharp, playful prose Veldman tells a story in equal parts searing intelligence and madcap sweetness. Simply brilliant." --Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days

"This novel has it all. It's smart, captivating, poignant, absurd, moving, and terribly funny." --Jente Posthuma, author of What I'd Rather Not Think About

"Intimate and surprising at every turn, Hard Copy's distinct narrative voice took me right in from page one. A truly one-of-a-kind novel: I loved it.

" --Sarah Maria Griffin, author of Other Words for Smoke

"Rounded with sharp observations and surprising humour, Hard Copy is an incisive commentary on social isolation - a young woman's desperate search for connection in these late-capitalist times. " --Anindita Ghose, author of The Illuminated

"Many astute observations about loneliness [and] class attitudes... very funny on the tedium of office life." --Irish Independent

"A talented new voice worth paying attention to." --Irish Times

"Dryly comic... You regularly wonder who is more disturbed here, the protagonist or society." --Het Parool

"A weird, understated and very well written book about a millennial meltdown" --Havermelkelite

"A beautiful, at times absurdist and moving debut" --Boekblad

"In clear, bright language, Fien Veldman accurately depicts a world, a social background, that eats its way through the individual... A novel like an autopsy." --Manon Uphoff

"Absurdist and inventive. Fien Veldman knows how to deal with contemporary cultural phenomena, and she always approaches them astutely and surprisingly'" --Tzum

"Wondrous" --Noordhollands Dagblad

"A beautiful book" --Friesch Dagblad

"Hard Copy is a wonderfully entertaining novel about the struggle to build relationships when one's formative years have already warped their foundation. In a world where machines steadily replace human labour, Veldman explores the search for connections that may not exist and a new, hopefully better reality... bizarre yet poignant'" --Daily Dispatch

About the Author

Fien Veldman (1990) is 2022's recipient of the Joost Zwagerman Essay-award for her essay 'Not really making it', about growing up in a working-class neighbourhood in Leeuwarden. In 2018 she won the Elise Mathilde Essay Award for her essay 'Borders, doors and eyes open'. From 2010 until 2016, she worked as a theatre critic. (And, of course, she has also worked in customer service.) Hard Copy is her debut novel.