A morose provincial inspector of roads in Aragon settles down to write the fable of the Snow Queen. The Netherlands has now been stretched into a vast country with Northern flatlands and hazardous Alpine ranges in the south. Kai and Lucia are circus illusionists, and when Kai is kidnapped, Lucia must rescue him from the Snow Queen's palace. In the Dutch Mountains is an elegantly constructed story within a story, laced with the wit that characterises the work of this outstanding European writer.

"'He is one of the greatest modern novelists' A. S. Byatt." - A S Byatt

"'A genuinely pan-European novel in both its subject and style. It has the brilliance and disconcerting logic of a dream' Jonathan Raban." - Jonathan Raban

"'A poet's fairy tale, elegant and beguiling' Julian Barnes." - Julian Barnes

"'The brilliant and original fruit of a deep (and well-read) imagination' Bernard Levin, The Times." - The Times