Years ago, Madame Verona and her husband built a home for themselves on a hill in a forest above a small village. There they lived in isolation, practicing their music, and chopping wood to see them through the cold winters. When Mr. Verona died, the locals might have expected that the legendary beauty would return to the village, but Madame Verona had enough wood to keep her warm during the years it would take to make a cello - the instrument her husband loved - and in the meantime she had her dogs for company. And then one cold February morning, when the last log has burned, Madame Verona sets off down the village path, with her cello and her memories, knowing that she will have no strength to climb the hill again. Poignant, precise and perfectly structured, this is a story of one woman's tender and enduring love - as a wife, and as a widow.
Madame Verona Comes Down The Hill
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'This tale of enduring love is poignant and consistently charming' - Independent --Review
`An intimate, unsentimental portrayal of European rural life ... His best sentences are gorgeously resonant' - Herald --Review
'A timeless novel about love, loss and village life' - Aesthetica -- Review
`A delightful oddity of a book ... witty, wise and moving' - Books Quarterly --Review
`An intimate, unsentimental portrayal of European rural life ... His best sentences are gorgeously resonant' - Herald --Review
'A timeless novel about love, loss and village life' - Aesthetica -- Review
`A delightful oddity of a book ... witty, wise and moving' - Books Quarterly --Review
About the Author
Born in Belgium in 1972, DIMITRI VERHULST is the author of a collection of short stories, a volume of poetry and several novels, including Problemski Hotel which was translated into English in 2003. All his books are widely translated in Europe and receive a lot of critical praise.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Keris Nine
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Exquisitely written, Dimitri Verhulst's short novel is a work of rare beauty that is relatively uncommon in modern literature - a brief novella, a concise and poetic meditation on life, specifically on the condition of reaching the end of one's life. The life in question is that of Madame Verona, a widow living alone in a small village after the death of her husband Monsieur Potter. Although over the years her great beauty is desired by the men of the village, Madame Verona clings to the memory of her husband, keeping only the company of the stray dogs that are drawn to her - a simple but unusual attraction that she hopes will stand her in good favour in the next life.
Verhulst considers Madame Verona's condition at this delicate stage in her life principally through the setting - specifically in the little village of Oucwègne, a village build on three hills. It's to this remote little place of no more than forty people that once had a cow for a mayor that she, a piano teacher, had come to live with her husband, a renowned composer. Her husband now dead, her regular climb down the hill to the village comes to express something else - the realisation being that, in her old age, the day will come when she will not make it back up again. Adopting the tone of a fable, the novella considers the position of Madame Verona from a number of viewpoints - her own attempt to define her condition and also how she is viewed by the villagers of Oucwègne, but also through flashbacks that contrast the married woman with the widow, the younger woman with the older, and of course through the village itself which is also slowly dying in its distance from the modern world.... Read more ›
Verhulst considers Madame Verona's condition at this delicate stage in her life principally through the setting - specifically in the little village of Oucwègne, a village build on three hills. It's to this remote little place of no more than forty people that once had a cow for a mayor that she, a piano teacher, had come to live with her husband, a renowned composer. Her husband now dead, her regular climb down the hill to the village comes to express something else - the realisation being that, in her old age, the day will come when she will not make it back up again. Adopting the tone of a fable, the novella considers the position of Madame Verona from a number of viewpoints - her own attempt to define her condition and also how she is viewed by the villagers of Oucwègne, but also through flashbacks that contrast the married woman with the widow, the younger woman with the older, and of course through the village itself which is also slowly dying in its distance from the modern world.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By purplepadma
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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"Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill" is short - a novella, really - but beautifully written, polished and, in places, poetic. Set in a dwindling rural village, it tells the story of Madame Verona's life through her memories and those of the villagers who have observed her from the bottom of the hill. Having arrived in the village young, beautiful, and wedded to her composer husband, she captures the interest in the men of the village, who continue to yearn for her as she is forced to settle into widowhood. An exploration of love and loss which is slow-burning but ultimately charming.
By NikkiFranki
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
An easy read with a sort of witty amusing humour - not laugh out loud but similar humour to that in The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window. Not a huge amount happens in this book, as is to be expected when you know the vague outline of the story. However I found it a touching read with interesting insight into the end of a life.
By Andrew Sutherland
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
You heard me right. But if that sounds grim, it shouldn't. Winter in rural Flanders: the eponymous widow, Madame Verona, old and heartbroken, goes down the hill in order to sit it out on a bench in the freezing night, Lawrence Oates-stylee, armed with a cello made from the wood of the tree from which her husband has hanged himself. What follows are her bitterswweet final memories. Verhulst has written a short, beautiful story of enduring love, shot through with with a series of strange anecdotes about village life that provide a comedy of manners to set against the doom of a very short, very good novella.
By sussex coast
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a beautiful book- short, yes! But with a depth that lasts longer than many books. Without giving too much of the plot away, this the type of book that makes the reader reflect and wonder- not just about the book but your own path in life . Profound.... You decide!
Format:Paperback
Im grateful to Whichbook.net and Amazon reviewers for persuading me to read a book I wouldn't normally consider. Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill is a short touching reflection on a life well lived ,love found and lost and a colourful rural community with some lager than life characters. Its not pretentious,doesn't waffle but presents a warm touching story which in our fast paced life,puts things into perspective. It appears to be set in Holland or Belguim but some of the references ,(the passion for table football) reminded me of a year spent in Alscace. Very poetic , if one day it becomes a film I hope they do it justice. Touched my life. Richard.W.Yorks
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Madame Verona Comes Down The Hill has at its heart a story that is simple, sad and lovely.
Madame Verona and her musician husband Monsieur Potter live in an isolated house at the top of a steep hill overlooking the village of Oucwegne.
The village is quiet and remote, slowly dying because no girls ever seem to be born there. Both the couple and the community are reaching the end of their lives.
Madame and Monsieur are happy, together in their own home and on their own land. But as they grow older things become more difficult. Monsieur Potter is diagnosed with an incurable disease and makes the to take his own life, to die in his own time and on his own land.
The villagers think that Madame Verona will not manage, will not want to live alone, will come down the hill to live in the village. But she stays in the home that she shared with her husband for another twenty years with only her dogs for company. She burns the firewood that her husband left her and builds a cello from the wood of the tree from which her husband hanged himself.
Love and loss are quite palpable.
Eventually the day comes when the last log has been burned and the cello has been built. And then Madame Verona does come down the hill, knowing she won't have the strength to go back up ever again.
Utterly moving.
Dimitri Verhulst has written a wonderful meditation on love, ageing and loss, using language and imagery quite beautifully.
Sometimes though I found that all of those other things overwhelmed the profound truth and beauty at the heart of the story
That make this into a book to stand back and admire rather than a book to wrap your arms around and hug.
Some like the former, but I prefer the latter.
Madame Verona and her musician husband Monsieur Potter live in an isolated house at the top of a steep hill overlooking the village of Oucwegne.
The village is quiet and remote, slowly dying because no girls ever seem to be born there. Both the couple and the community are reaching the end of their lives.
Madame and Monsieur are happy, together in their own home and on their own land. But as they grow older things become more difficult. Monsieur Potter is diagnosed with an incurable disease and makes the to take his own life, to die in his own time and on his own land.
The villagers think that Madame Verona will not manage, will not want to live alone, will come down the hill to live in the village. But she stays in the home that she shared with her husband for another twenty years with only her dogs for company. She burns the firewood that her husband left her and builds a cello from the wood of the tree from which her husband hanged himself.
Love and loss are quite palpable.
Eventually the day comes when the last log has been burned and the cello has been built. And then Madame Verona does come down the hill, knowing she won't have the strength to go back up ever again.
Utterly moving.
Dimitri Verhulst has written a wonderful meditation on love, ageing and loss, using language and imagery quite beautifully.
Sometimes though I found that all of those other things overwhelmed the profound truth and beauty at the heart of the story
That make this into a book to stand back and admire rather than a book to wrap your arms around and hug.
Some like the former, but I prefer the latter.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bitter-sweet and Belgian
I was very taken by this concise little novella about a widow who has a cello made from the tree her husband hanged himself from. Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2010 by doublegone
3.0 out of 5 stars
A short but poignant read
This book is set in the tiny and remote village of Oucwegne, a place that is slowly dying due to the lack of girls being born in recent generations. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2010 by Helen
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful novella. Well worth reading and recommending
'Madame Verona Comes down the hill' is a wonderful novella. The writing is beautiful, poetic and frequently very funny. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2010 by She-who-reads-while-walking
2.0 out of 5 stars
A bittersweet little tale, well-written but a little unsatisfying
This is a well-written little novella (just!) padded out to 145 pages with double-spacing and larger text - if it was printed as a regular book it would struggle to fill 70 pages. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2010 by Stealth Reviewer
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable short story
I found it a little tricky to get into the rhythm of the book, but once I had I found it a very enjoyable one.
Published on 25 Feb 2010 by Lukens
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating stuff
This book is small in length but great in depth. A tale that seems to take you to another time and place; I didn't realise it was about contemporary times until about a third of... Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2010 by D. Thurgood
2.0 out of 5 stars
Insubstantial
The literary equivalent of candy floss, I'm afraid - a lot of showy colourful froth which turns out to have no substance in the mouth.
Published on 18 Feb 2010 by Mr. F. L. Dunkin Wedd
3.0 out of 5 stars
A tale of a community nearly lost
Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill is a very brief novel at only 144 pages, and I read it easily in an evening. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2010 by Dinah93
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