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Hard Copy
- Author
- Fien Veldman
- Narrator
- James Faulkner, Sarah Slimani
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 6 June 2024
- Run Time
- 5 hours 49 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
'A talented new voice worth paying attention to.' Irish Times
'Equal parts searing intelligence and madcap sweetness. Simply brilliant.' Jenny Mustard
'Many astute observations... very funny on the tedium of office life.' Irish Independent
This is a story of girl meets printer.
A customer service assistant spends her long workdays printing letters. Her one friend is the printer and, in the dark confines of her office, she begins to open up to him, talking about her fears, her past, her hopes and dreams.
To her, it seems like a beautiful friendship is blossoming. To her boss, it seems like she’s losing her mind.
Diagnosed with burnout and placed on leave, she faces severance and – worse – separation from her beloved printer. But she’s not about to give up on her only friend without a fight. And, it turns out, neither is he…
Weird, incisive and unforgettable, Hard Copy is perfect for fans of Sayaka Murata and Halle Butler.
Critics Review
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Despite its whimsical premise, Hard Copy is at its heart a joyful, tender, and strangely relatable novel. With sharp, playful prose Veldman tells a story in equal parts searing intelligence and madcap sweetness. Simply brilliant.
Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days
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This novel has it all. It's smart, captivating, poignant, absurd, moving, and terribly funny.
Jente Posthuma, author of What I'd Rather Not Think About
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Intimate and surprising at every turn, Hard Copy's distinct narrative voice took me right in from page one. A truly one-of-a-kind novel: I loved it.
Sarah Maria Griffin, author of Other Words for Smoke
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Rounded with sharp observations and surprising humour, Hard Copy is an incisive commentary on social isolation – a young woman’s desperate search for connection in these late-capitalist times.
Anindita Ghose, author of The Illuminated
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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'Many astute observations about loneliness [and] class attitudes... very funny on the tedium of office life.'
Irish Independent
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A talented new voice worth paying attention to.
Irish Times
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Dryly comic... You regularly wonder who is more disturbed here, the protagonist or society.
Het Parool
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A weird, understated and very well written book about a millennial meltdown
Havermelkelite
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A beautiful, at times absurdist and moving debut
Boekblad
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In clear, bright language, Fien Veldman accurately depicts a world, a social background, that eats its way through the individual... A novel like an autopsy.
Manon Uphoff
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Absurdist and inventive. Fien Veldman knows how to deal with contemporary cultural phenomena, and she always approaches them astutely and surprisingly'
Tzum
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Wondrous
Noordhollands Dagblad
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A beautiful book
Friesch Dagblad
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Hard Copy is a wonderfully entertaining novel about the struggle to build relationships when one’s formative years have already warped their foundation. In a world where machines steadily replace human labour, Veldman explores the search for connections that may not exist and a new, hopefully better reality... bizarre yet poignant'
Daily Dispatch
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Fien Veldman
- Narrator
- James Faulkner, Sarah Slimani
- Duration
- 5 hours 49 minutes
- Release Date
- 6 June 2024
- ISBN
- 9781035907984
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Fiction in translation, Impact of science and technology on society, Narrative theme: love / relationships
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents Hard Copy by Fien Veldman, read by Sarah Slimani and James Faulkner.'A talented new voice worth paying attention to.' Irish Times'Equal parts searing intelligence and madcap sweetness. Simply brilliant.' Jenny Mustard'Many astute observations... very funny on the tedium of office life.' Irish IndependentThis is a story of girl meets printer.A customer service assistant spends her long workdays printing letters. Her one friend is the printer and, in the dark confines of her office, she begins to open up to him, talking about her fears, her past, her hopes and dreams.To her, it seems like a beautiful friendship is blossoming. To her boss, it seems like she’s losing her mind.Diagnosed with burnout and placed on leave, she faces severance and – worse – separation from her beloved printer. But she’s not about to give up on her only friend without a fight. And, it turns out, neither is he…Weird, incisive and unforgettable, Hard Copy is perfect for fans of Sayaka Murata and Halle Butler.
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