The Assault

A TIMES BEST REDISCOVERED BOOK OF 2025

'Fuelled with energy, drama and emotional weight, combined with a light touch and a fast-moving story. Grab it while you can' Times

'Acknowledged as Holland's finest novelist' Guardian

'Mulisch is a rarity ... an instinctively psychological novelist' John Updike

In the bitter final months of the Second World War, the body of a Dutch Nazi collaborator is found on the doorstep of an ordinary family home. The repercussions are complex and terrible: the family is killed and the house burned to the ground; only the twelve-year-old son, Anton, survives. Following Anton as he reckons with this trauma through his life, The Assault is a powerful excavation of resistance and the collateral damage wrought on innocent people in times of war.

A runaway bestseller that sold 200,000 copies on first publication, this is a classic of Dutch literature from one of the greatest European writers of his time.

With an introduction by Thomas Harding, author of Hanns and Rudolf