The Ditch: A Novel

Herman Koch

Jun 2019 · Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Gildart Jackson

About this audiobook

When Robert Walter, popular mayor of Amsterdam, sees his wife toss her head back with laughter while chatting to one of his aldermen at a New Year's reception, he immediately suspects the worst. Despite their long and happy marriage, Robert is convinced that Sylvia is cheating on him-with the respectable alderman who is dedicated to the environment, no less. The man who wants to spoil the capital's skyline with wind turbines. The New Year's reception marks the end of the "happy family" era that the mayor has enjoyed for so long. His wife and their daughter, Diana, however, are not aware of his suspicions and carry on as usual. Robert starts spending a lot of time and energy "behaving normally." Naturally, his normal behavior is far more suspicious. Normally Robert's not really present when he's at home-he's preoccupied with his phone, the newspapers, and his own thoughts. But now Robert is so sure he'll miss the clues if he doesn't pay attention that he starts to be almost alarmingly attentive and interested-ultimately losing himself in increasingly panicked and paranoid trains of thought. Written with Herman Koch's trademark originality, playfulness, and edge, The Ditch is a wildly clever-and guttingly familiar-story of a man whose sadistic skill for undermining himself and his marriage comes to cost him nearly everything.

About the author

Herman Koch is the author of seven novels and three collections of short stories. The Dinner, his sixth novel, has been published in more than fifty countries and was the winner of the Publieksprijs Prize in 2009. He currently lives in Amsterdam.

With acting credits that span stage and screen, Gildart Jackson is most often recognized for his role as Gideon on Charmed. He has also been featured on Providence and General Hospital, and his theater roles include Trigorin in The Seagull, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, and Adrian in Private Eyes at the Old Globe.