Mr. Hire's Engagement (Romans Durs) - by Georges Simenon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"I always have a Simenon close at hand. In my youth I adored his Maigret books; nowadays I prefer his 'hard novels, ' as he called them, in which his mastery of human psychology is laid plain." --Julian Barnes

Georges Simenon's chilling portrayal of tragic love, persecution, and betrayal.

One sensed in him neither flesh nor bone, nothing but soft, flaccid matter, so soft and so flaccid that his movements were hard to make out. Very red lips stood out from his orb-like face, as did the thin moustache that he curled with an iron but that looked as if it had been drawn on with India ink; on his cheekbones were the symmetrical pink dots of a doll's cheeks.

People find Mr. Hire strange, disconcerting. The tenants he shares his building with try to avoid him. He is a Peeping Tom, a visitor of prostitutes, a dealer in unsavory literature. He is also the prime suspect for a brutal murder that he did not commit. Yet Mr. Hire's innocence will not stand in the way of those looking for a scapegoat as tragedy unfolds in this quietly devastating and deeply unnerving work from Georges Simenon.

About the Author

Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was born in Liège, Belgium. An intrepid traveler with a profound interest in people, Simenon strove on and off the page to understand--and not to judge--the human condition in all its shades. His books include the Inspector Maigret series and a richly varied body of wider work united by its evocative power, its economy of means, and its penetrating psychological insight. He is among the most widely read writers in the global canon.

Anna Moschovakis has translated books by Albert Cossery, Annie Ernaux, Robert Bresson, and Marcelle Sauvageot, among others. Her novel Eleanor, or The Rejection of the Progress of Love was published in 2018.