"A joy to read" Times Literary Supplement
"[A] stirring and accessible history of the mighty Rhine" Irish Times
"It's easy to be swept away by Deen's delightful prose" New Statesman
"A beautiful book, by turns poetic, witty and full of learning " PATRICK McGUINNESS
The Boundless River takes the reader into a unique world ? the twilight zone between fact and fiction, science and imagination ? and on a journey which moves effortlessly from a time in prehistory, long before the existence of a European continent, to the present day. Along the way Deen encounters paleontologists, geologists, museum curators, taxidermists, fishermen and skippers who work the boats, who still see the Rhine as a living entity.
From the mighty hippos that swam in its waters millions of years ago, to the weary salmon that saw their habitat slowly change and the aurochs that grazed its shores; from the primordial Steinheim Woman to the Roman general Corbulo who commanded settlements along its delta, to a young Goethe: in all of their stories the Rhine is ever present, sometimes as the main character, sometimes as an extra, as a theatre of war, a border between nations, a bathing spot, a killer, a vital transport route.
Beautifully fluid, rich and captivating, The Boundless River shows how the Rhine connects and divides, terrifies, comforts, carries and swallows, and has done since the beginning of time.
Translated from the Dutch by Jane Hedley-Prôle and Jonathan Reeder
| ISBN: | 9781529424171 |
| Publication date: | 3rd July 2025 |
| Author: | Mathijs Deen |
| Publisher: | MacLehose Press an imprint of Quercus Publishing |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 320 pages |
| Genres: |
European history |
"A joy to read" Times Literary Supplement
"[A] stirring and accessible history of the mighty Rhine" Irish Times
"It's easy to be swept away by Deen's delightful prose" New Statesman
"A beautiful book, by turns poetic, witty and full of learning " PATRICK McGUINNESS
The Boundless River takes the reader into a unique world ? the twilight zone between fact and fiction, science and imagination ? and on a journey which moves effortlessly from a time in prehistory, long before the existence of a European continent, to the present day. Along the way Deen encounters paleontologists, geologists, museum curators, taxidermists, fishermen and skippers who work the boats, who still see the Rhine as a living entity.
From the mighty hippos that swam in its waters millions of years ago, to the weary salmon that saw their habitat slowly change and the aurochs that grazed its shores; from the primordial Steinheim Woman to the Roman general Corbulo who commanded settlements along its delta, to a young Goethe: in all of their stories the Rhine is ever present, sometimes as the main character, sometimes as an extra, as a theatre of war, a border between nations, a bathing spot, a killer, a vital transport route.
Beautifully fluid, rich and captivating, The Boundless River shows how the Rhine connects and divides, terrifies, comforts, carries and swallows, and has done since the beginning of time.
Translated from the Dutch by Jane Hedley-Prôle and Jonathan Reeder
The Boundless River features in the following genres: European history
The Boundless River is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Boundless River was written by Mathijs Deen and published by MacLehose Press an imprint of Quercus Publishing
The Boundless River has 320 pages
£11.69