The Assault

A novel that probes moral devastation in the wake of the slaughter of an innocent family by the Nazis in retaliation for the association with a Dutch collaborator. The Assault has been translated and published to great critical acclaim throughout Europe and in the United States. Review “A beautiful and powerful work…takes its place among the finest European fiction of our time.” —Elizabeth Hardwick “A political thriller that removes the postwar scar tissue protecting society…a psychological thriller probing the moral devastation between neighbors, fellow students, husbands and wives…It is Mr. MulischвЂTMs triumph to have revealed all this…with an x-ray cunning.” — The New York Times Book Review Language Notes Text: English, Dutch (translation) It is the winter of 1945, the last dark days of World War II in occupied Holland. A Nazi collaborator, infamous for his cruelty, is assassinated as he rides home on his bicycle. The Germans retaliate by burning down the home of an innocent family; only twelve-year-old Anton survives. Based on actual events, The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this horrific incident on Anton’s life. Determined to forget, he opts for a carefully normal existence: a prudent marriage, a successful career, and colorless passivity. But the past keeps breaking through, in relentless memories and in chance encounters with others who were involved in the assassination and its aftermath, until Anton finally learns what really happened that night in 1945—and why. Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/118456/the-assault-by-harry-mulisch/9780307801869 It is the winter of 1945, the last dark days of World War II in occupied Holland. A Nazi collaborator, infamous for his cruelty, is assassinated as he rides home on his bicycle. The Germans retaliate by burning down the home of an innocent family; only twelve-year-old Anton survives. The Assault traces the complex repercussions of this nightmarish event on Anton’s life. Determined to forget, he opts for a carefully normal existence--a prudent marriage, a successful career, and colorless passivity. But the past keeps breaking through, in relentless memories and in chance encounters with others who were involved in the assassination and its aftermath, until Anton finally learns what really happened that night in 1944, and why. (back cover) The execution of a collaborator and Nazi retaliation on the family of twelve-year-old Anton Steenwijk have lasting repercussions in Anton's life as he learns, through chance encounters, the truth of one harrowing night