The Guard

Two men live in the basement of a large luxury apartment block, guarding its inhabitants. Harry and Michel work for "the organization", wear crisp blue uniforms and carry guns, taking turns to sleep only five hours a night and living on water, bread and corned beef. Harry is convinced that he and Michel are being tested by the organization. There was talk of a third guard being sent to assist them, but he has not arrived. They have no idea what is going in their city, in the outside world: there might be a war on, there might have been a nuclear explosion. One weekend, the inhabitants abandon their apartments. There is no news from the organization and no deliveries for several days. Just as Michel begins to think he will die of starvation, the third guard appears with a box filled with food. Harry and Michel's tight routine is disturbed, with horrific and fatal consequences. Steeped in an atmosphere of tense paranoia, The Guard is a disturbing and brilliantly observed allegorical novel about war and peace'war with an incomprehensible enemy, peace which every man has to earn for himself Winner of the European Union Literature Prize, Peter Terrin's The Guard is a haunting novel of perceived oppression by the an omnipresent, but unknown, authority. In the near future, Harry and Michel live in the basement of a luxury apartment block, guarding the inhabitants. No one goes outside. The world might be at war, it might even have been plunged into nuclear winter. No one knows. But one weekend, all of the residents leave the block, one by one. All but the man on floor 29. Harry and Michel stick to their posts. All they know, all they can hope for, is that if they are vigilant, the "Organization" will reward them with a promotion to an elite cadre of security officers. But what if there were no one left to guard? Playing on our darkest fears, The Guard is a tautly observed novel by a writer of striking and stylish originality. Harry and Michel live in the basement of a luxury apartment block, guarding the inhabitants. No-one goes outside. The world might be at war - it might even have been plunged into nuclear winter. No-one knows. All Harry and Michel know is that if they are vigilant, 'the Organization' will reward them: promotion to an elite cadre of security officers remains their shining goal. But what if there were no-one left to guard? And if the promised relief shift arrives, how will they fit in to Michel and Harry's studied routine of boredom and paranoia?