Groundwork
Publisher: Atlas Contact
Animal Farm anno 2025
Winner of the Boekenbon Literature Award 2025
Nominated for the Boon Literature Award 2026
Groundwork reveals a hidden world beneath Vaderlandsplein in Brussels. Hidden in a network of tunnels, a naked mole rat, on a mission from the Horn of Africa, waits for a briefing. A human who reports to her burrow gains her trust and writes down her story word for word. Meanwhile, sinkholes are appearing all over the city. Something is brewing in the administrative heart of Europe. Is an uprising imminent?
Groundwork is a story about resistance and recovery, about collective action, shared ground, and attempts to make the world habitable. A novel full of conspiracy theories and visions of the future, which shows that we cannot do without each other.
Praise:
‘Tijl Nuyts is one of the most interesting writers in our language.’ – De Standaard
‘A fascinating and extremely original novel.’ – Trouw
‘A true adventure novel that holds up a mirror to our society.’ – Het Nieuwsblad
‘Bizarre, tense, and surprising. Groundwork is a penetrating, socially critical and deeply literary work.’ – De Standaard
