Lucca

by Grondahl, Jens Christian; Born, Anne

• ISBN13: 9780151005949
• ISBN10: 015100594X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-07-01
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

On a lovely evening in April, Lucca Montale is rushed to the hospital after the car she was driving collided head-on with a truck. Robert, her doctor, has to break the news that she may never see again. Lucca is an actress with a string of love affairs behind her, now unhappily married with a son. Since his divorce, Robert has lived in a state of emotional paralysis and resignation, relieved only by the weekend visits of his young daughter. During their daily conversations he and Lucca share their life stories, and slowly they are drawn to one another, on terms new to both. The result is a love story of immense emotional reach that will enhance Jens Christian Groslash;ndahl's reputation as one of the most readable and perceptive novelists writing today.

Author Biography

Jens Christian Gr°ndahl is one of the most acclaimed and widely read authors in Europe today. He has written plays, essays, and twelve novels, and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lives in Copenhagen.

Excerpts

One evening in April a thirty-two-year-old woman, unconscious and severely injured, was admitted to the hospital in a provincial town south of Copenhagen. She had a concussion and internal bleeding, her legs and arms were broken in several places, and she had deep lesions in her face. A gas station attendant in a neighboring village, beside the bridge over the highway to Copenhagen, had seen her go the wrong way up the exit and drive at high speed into the oncoming traffic. The first three approaching cars managed to maneuver around her, but about 200 meters after the junction she collided head-on with a truck.The Dutch driver was admitted for observation but released the next day. According to his statement he started to brake a good 100 meters before the crash, while the car seemed to actually increase its speed over the last stretch. The front of the vehicle was totally crushed, part of the radiator was stuck between the road and the truck's bumper, and the woman had to be cut free. The spokesman for emergency services said it was a miracle she had survived.On arrival at the hospital the woman was in very critical condition, and it was twenty-four hours before she was out of serious danger. Her eyes were so badly damaged that she lost her sight. Her name was Lucca. Lucca Montale.Despite the name there was nothing particularly Italian about her appearance. She had auburn hair and green eyes in a narrow face with high cheek-bones. She was slim and fairly tall. It turned out she was Danish, born in Copenhagen.Her husband, Andreas Bark, arrived with their small son while she was still on the operating table. The couple's home was an isolated old farmhouse in the woods seven kilometers from the site of the accident. Andreas Bark told the police he had tried to stop his wife from driving. He thought she had just gone out for a breath of air when he heard the car start. By the time he got outside he saw it disappearing along the road. She had been drinking a lot. They had had a marital disagreement. Those were the words he used; he was not questioned further on that point.Early in the morning, when Lucca Montale was moved from the operating room into intensive care, her husband was still in the waiting room with the sleeping boy's head on his lap. He was looking out at the sky and the dark trees when Robert sat down next to him. Andreas Bark went on staring into the gray morning light with an exhausted, absent gaze. He seemed slightly younger than Robert, in his late thirties. He had dark, wavy hair and a prominent chin, his eyes were narrow and deep-set, and he was wearing a shabby leather jacket.Robert rested his hands on his knees in the green cotton trousers and looked down at the perforations in the leather uppers of his white clogs. He realized he had forgotten to take off his plastic cap after the operation. The thin plastic crackled between his hands. Andreas looked at him and Robert straightened up to meet his gaze. The boy woke

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Excerpted from Lucca by Jens Christian Grondahl
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