Lucca Montale, a 32-year-old Danish actress, is rushed into hospital after a motor accident. She is severely injured after a head-on collision with a lorry. Robert, the doctor responsible for treating her, is obliged to break the news that she may never see again.
Robert and Lucca are both suffering the after-effects of love. He has sought refuge in controlled resignation since his divorce. She has rushed into dramatic, desperate acts. Grøndahl masterfully deploys a dual narrative, switching with astounding insight between the stories that the two protagonists relate to each other.
"Grondahl's prose is electrically charged. . . A winner all the way" - * The Times *
"an extraordinarily well-written and well-observed novel; a piece of fiction both profound and haunting." - * Scotland On Sunday *
"His propensity for philosophical turns of phrase, which in the hands of a lesser writer might seem forced, here seems entirely appropriate to the novel's reflective mood. Lucca is already a bestseller in the author's native Denmark' in Anne Born's luminous translation, it deserves to be one here." - * The Guardian *
"Very occasionally one comes across a writer who has the power irrevocably to alter one's perspective. Jens Christian Grondahl is one such. . . It is a testament to the imaginative power of a novelist who leads his readers with masterly assurance through the impenetrable mazes of the heart." - * The Scotsman *