‘Feels incredibly modern… it is brutal, frank about sex and violence, and will make your flesh creep’ Ian RankinA brilliant new translation of Simenon’s critically acclaimed masterpiece.‘And always the dirty snow, the heaps of snow that look rotten, with black patches and embedded garbage … unable to cover the filth.’Nineteen-year-old Frank – thug, thief, son of a brothel owner – gets by surprisingly well despite living in a city under military occupation, but a warm house and a full stomach are not enough to make him feel truly alive in such a climate of deceit and betrayal. During a bleak, unending winter, he embarks on a string of violent and sordid crimes that set him on a path from which he can never return. Georges Simenon’s matchless novel is a brutal, compelling portrayal of a world without pity; a devastating journey through a psychological no-man’s land.’Among the best novels of the twentieth century’ New Yorker‘An astonishing work’ John Banville’So noir it makes Raymond Chandler look beige’ Independent

Georges Simenon’s matchless novel is a brutal, compelling portrayal of a world without pity; a psychological no-man’s land of the soul.About the AuthorGeorges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. He is best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret novels and his prolific output of over 400 novels and short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.ReviewsA brutal analysis of a wartime collaborator’s moral vacuity. There’s a cold, ruthless beauty to Simenon’s writing. * Spectator *Feels incredibly modern… it is brutal, frank about sex and violence, and will make your flesh creep. — Ian RankinA masterpiece, completely brilliant . . . so nihilistic and so completely barren . . . but it is saved from being comically French by the vigour with which the story is told and the great knowingness of the author’s voice. — India KnightOne of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories * Guardian *Fierce, bleak and compellingly written . . . with pitiless landscapes of hopeless longing, random cruelty and galloping fate warmed only by the twilit lyricism of doomed desire. These are novels of eye-opening, spine-tingling control and intensity. — Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness * Independent *Book InformationISBN 9780241258569Author Georges SimenonFormat PaperbackPage Count 304Imprint Penguin ClassicsPublisher Penguin Books LtdWeight(grams) 224gDimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 17mm