| Translator | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Pages | 216 |
| US ISBN | 978-1-64286-175-4 |
| UK ISBN | 978-1-64286-175-4 |
| Ebook ISBN | 978-1-64286-027-6 |
| Region | |
| US publication date | October 6, 2026 |
| UK publication date | October 6, 2026 |
| Price | $19.99 |
The Woman Who Fed the Dogs – Read the World A to Z: Belgium
$19.99
Travel the globe with the most influential voices from Argentina to Zambia! Read the World A to Z features translated novels from A to Z—one country for every letter of the alphabet. The Woman Who Fed the Dogs takes you to Belgium, offering a deep-dive by celebrated novelist Kristien Hemmerechts into the mind of the country’s most hated woman.
“With unnerving conviction, this novel inhabits the mind, heart and voice of Belgium’s ‘most hated woman,’ the ex-wife of murderer Marc Dutroux—the authenticity makes for a compelling narrative.” —Blake Morrison
Odette sits in her prison cell preparing for imminent release, laboring through the memories of her former life. Obsessive and reflective, yet crucially lacking in remorse, Odette’s testimony is a tricky script to untangle. Based on the real-life events of Michelle Martin, ex-wife of the notorious child abductor, murderer, and serial rapist, Marc Dutroux, this is a powerful and intelligent fictionalized account of the inner workings of Michelle Martin’s mind before, during, and after the crimes that shook a nation in the 1990s.
In The Woman Who Fed the Dogs, Hemmerechts has produced a daring novel—at once tragic, odious, and compelling—that positions the reader uncomfortably close to the human behind these unforgivable acts.
Details
Author
Kristien Hemmerechts
Kristien Hemmerechts’s extensive output includes more than twenty novels, and numerous collections… Read more
Video
Video
Book Club Questions
Book Club Questions
- The novel is based on the true story of the wife of murderer and sociopath Marc Dutroux. What are the moral implications of keeping such a story in the public eye?
- Do you think it is correct for such a person to be the protagonist of a novel?
- Hemmerechts stresses that this is book is fiction, although it is based on true events. What is your opinion? Where do you think the border lies between fiction and non-fiction?
- Why do you think Hemmerechts wanted to write such a story? Why was she interested in this character? What did she hope to achieve?
- How do you feel about Odette after reading this novel? Is she to blame or is she a victim? Should she be released?
- Do you feel as if Odette had any control over her situation? Is there any proof of this within the text?
- Why do you think Odette was initially attracted to M?
- Could Odette’s mother have done more to help her daughter? If so, why do you think she chose not to?
- What do you think prevented Odette from going down to the cellar?
- Do you think Odette feels any remorse over her actions (or lack thereof)?
- What effect does the first-person perspective or monologue style have on how you experience the story?
- Do you trust Odette’s account of the events she describes? Why or why not?
- How do you feel about the role the public plays in this story? Does the public have a responsibility to behave in a particular way?
- Hemmerechts, in her interview Out of the Cellar says, ‘Before I embarked on this book, I thought of Martin and Dutroux as living on a different planet, the planet of evil, but they lived next door.’ How does this perspective change how we view the notions of good and evil?
Press Quotes
Press Quotes
“With unnerving conviction, this novel inhabits the mind, heart and voice of Belgium’s ‘most hated woman,’ the ex-wife of murderer Marc Dutroux – the authenticity makes for a compelling narrative.” —BLAKE MORRISON
“Kristien Hemmerechts didn’t write an apology for an inhuman woman, but simply a very good novel.” —De Volkskrant
“As is the case with the best written of books, it is not what is said, but what is not said that makes the writing so accomplished.” —For Books’ Sake
“The narrative is impossible for the reader to escape, unknowingly and at most points unwillingly, you are dragged into her world.” —Exeposé
“The naturalness of this reconstruction of a life is mind-blowing” —PANTHEON BOEKHANDEL
Why You Should Read This Book
Why You Should Read This Book
‘Many people have asked me why I wrote this novel. “Think of me as an anthropologist,” I reply. I study human behavior, I want to understand its ins and outs, which does not imply approval. Of course I don’t approve of what she did or failed to do. Who would? But I think I now understand how it came to pass.’
KRISTIEN HEMMERECHTS, the author
‘The Woman Who Fed the Dogs is an uncompromising, uncomfortable, yet moving narrative, in which a moral-distorting mirror is held up to the reader. The principal challenge for me as a translator was to find an equivalent in English for the voice of the much-abused protagonist, which the author sustains throughout with such grim effectiveness.’
PAUL VINCENT, the translator
‘Kristien Hemmerechts is a very brave author. In this book she did the hardest thing a writer can impose upon herself by looking evil in the eye and entering the mind of a woman despised by everyone. The result is totally convincing and mind-blowing.’
JUDITH UYTERLINDE, the publisher
