Ventoux - by Bert Wagendorp (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"A wonderful blend of humor, suspense, and poignancy, which will appeal to non-cyclists as well as those of us who understand what it takes to scale a mountain as evocative, daunting, and symbolic as Mont Ventoux." --Felix Lowe, author of Climbs & Punishment

During the summer of 1982, a group of friends--five boys and one girl--travel to French Provence, three of whom climb the legendary Mont Ventoux on their bicycles. A tragic accident claims the life of one of them, the promising young poet, Peter. Thirty years later, the old friends return to conquer the mountain and the demons of their past. Ventoux is both a hilarious and insightful portrait of a generation and a stunningly accurate depiction of male friendship. It's a glorious tragicomedy for everyone who loves to read a well-crafted feel-good novel and especially recommended for cycling aficionados who will recognize Mont Ventoux as the scene of many classic races.

Review Quotes

"A propulsive reading experience" --The New York Times

"Wise, funny, eminently quotable" --Kirkus Reviews

"Wagendorp's book manages to be funny, shrewd and moving, with a complex structure that never feels cumbersome, and a finale so intense that you want to read it very slowly, almost one word at a time" --The Guardian

"Mont Ventoux, the legendary 'Giant of Provence' stands alone and apart from the Alps to which it belongs geologically. It is a magnet for amateur cyclists, including a group of Dutch friends who are the protagonists of the novel Ventoux, a fictional account of how one ride changes lives forever." --PEZ Cycling News

"Bert Wagendorp keeps his readers firmly in tow in this glorious tragicomedy about friendship" --De Morgen

"Where the novel succeeds most is in its wonderful blend of humour, suspense and poignancy, which will appeal to non-cyclists as well as those of us who understand what it takes to scale a mountain as evocative, daunting and symbolic as Mont Ventoux" --Felix Lowe, author of Climbs & Punishment

"Hilarious, stirring, feel-good" --NRC Handelsblad

"Takes in the nature of friendship, musings on the nature of time, and the small choices we make that can change our lives; very funny, and often very touching" --Cyclo

"Twists, unforeseen developments, and heart-breaking truths; the plot is peppered with moments that urge you to read on" --Life in the Saddle

"Within the main story, there are plenty more relatable sub-plots woven in: of personal journeys, triumphs, of tragedies, humour, success and of disaster--and of course, of cycling. It's a novel which grips you, it's a novel which makes you think, and it's a novel which makes you reflect on your own choices. And it is a novel well worth reading" --Road Cycling UK

"A touching and well-crafted novel about friendship and life, that's also got some bikes in it" --Road.cc

"Ventoux is a stunningly accurate depiction of male friendship told in a subtle and sensitive style. This feel-good novel about old friends who find their way back to each other is a delightful and easy read. Especially recommended for cycling aficionados who will recognise Mont Ventoux as the scene of many classic races through the years" --Battle Books

"Instantly likable, the heady mix of angst in Wagendorp's characters, and their love of cycling and music coupled with a desire to leave lasting, revered legacies instantly resonated" --Seven Day Cyclist

"A fictional cycling story with camaraderie, romance, love, intrigue and treachery. Quite brilliant!" --The Bike Lane

"Ventoux is so convincingly written that contrivance is a factor that never once rears its potentially ugly head. The story line is well conceived with an unsuspected twist as it draws to a close. The characters are thoroughly and naturally believable, as are their various interactions, while the book's 285 pages provide compulsive reading from page one" --The Washing Machine Post

About the Author

BERT WAGENDORP (1956) is a writer and columnist for the Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant. His novel Ventoux was proclaimed Book of the Month by the leading Dutch television talkshow DWDD and received unanimous rave reviews from the press, selling 100,000 copies within the first six months. The book has been adapted into a Dutch-language film of the same name.

PAUL VINCENT is a Dutch-to-English translator based in London. He studied at Cambridge and in Amsterdam, and after teaching Dutch at the University of London for over twenty years became a full-time translator in 1989. Since then he has published a wide variety of translated poetry, non-fiction, and fiction, including work by Achterberg, Claus, Couperus, Elsschot, Jellema, Mulisch, De Moor, and Van den Brink. He is a member of the Society of Dutch Literature in Leiden, and has won the Reid Prize for poetry translation, the Vondel Prize for Dutch-English translation, and (jointly) the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize.