Angelo Tijssens

En la costa belga, entre edificios a medio construir y solares abandonados, un joven regresa a su ciudad natal, donde se cita con el hombre que fue su primer amor y con el que descubrió el sexo. En la intensidad del reencuentro, reaparecen los amargos recuerdos de la infancia y la adolescencia, las dudas, las inseguridades y, sobre todo, las huellas —todavía presentes— de la violencia ejercida por una madre que acaba de fallecer. De contenido semiautobiográfico y prosa certera, Los bordes es la sobrecogedora primera novela del escritor Angelo Tijssens, autor junto al cineasta Lukas Dhont del guion de Close, película ganadora del Gran Premio del Jurado en el Festival de Cannes en 2022 y candidata al Óscar. Con un universo literario próximo a los de Ocean Vuong y Douglas Stuart, Tijssens nos muestra a un niño marcado por el miedo, a un adolescente que descubre sus impulsos y a un adulto que ya no se atreve a pedir amor.

Mesmeric and tender, this is the tale of one man’s search for love and affection. A man returns to his hometown to clear out the flat of his recently deceased mother. While there, he cannot resist visiting his former lover. As the storm rages in the night outside, he finds in the man’s embrace some kind of quiet; some kind of home. As we are drawn into the narrator’s past, we see how a childhood marked by abuse and a life lived on the edges can shape someone – and what respite and beauty can be found in love and trust. Unsentimental yet aching with longing and vulnerability, Angelo Tijssens’ The Edges is a deeply humane, moving and beautiful debut. ‘A book that feels like heartache – at once tender & violent, intimate & lyrical, The Edges conjures itself in flowing temporal rhythms, immersing the reader in the night-lit, wintery ache of love.’ Seán Hewitt ‘The Edges had me gripped from the very start. Tijssens has created a beguiling world filled with reckoning and melancholic sensuality. A masterfully crafted novella that leaves you wanting more.’ Tomasz Jędrowski ‘A hovering wounded story of unending love and fear and pain that saturates the reader in silence and memory . . . Unmissable.’ David Hayden ‘A deeply affecting meditation on the deprivation of love. Like a meeting of Édouard Louis and Garth Greenwell.’ Michael Amherst ‘A powerful gem, written with great precision, lurching between love and violence.’ De Standaard ‘Succinct and understated writing, deeply human and full of suppressed anguish.’ Feeling ‘A hit. I’m hugely impressed by this strong debut.’ Het Nieuwsblad