Speechless by Tom Lanoye📖

Summary of Speechless 

In his novel “Speechless”, Flemish author Tom Lanoye wrote a biography of his mother, a butcher’s wife, an amateur actress, and a formidable woman living in the Belgian city of Sint-Niklaas. After suffering a stroke, she loses the ability to speak, forcing the author to let her go and bid farewell to his youth.

Reasons to read Speechless 

“Speechless” is a deeply personal portrayal of the author’s childhood and a moving tribute to his mother. Through the pages of this book, she is brought to life not only as a human figure, but as an icon of motherhood. Tom Lanoye is one of the most celebrated contemporary Flemish novelists and playwrights, having written more than 30 plays. He was awarded the Constantijn Huygens Prize for his body of work in 2013, and the Dutch Literature Prize (“Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren”) in 2024. His novel “Speechless” won the Golden Owl award in 2010, a prize Lanoye had previously received for “Boze tongen” in 2003 and “Zwarte tranen” in 2000.

Setting: Sint-Niklaas (Belgium)

Original title: Sprakeloos

Year of publication: 2009

Nr of pages: 352