The Boundless River

<p><b>"A joy to read" <i>Times Literary Supplement</i></b><br><br><b>"[A] stirring and accessible history of the mighty Rhine" <i>Irish Times</i></b><br><br><b>"It's easy to be swept away by Deen's delightful prose" <i>New Statesman</i></b><br><b><br>"</b><b>A beautiful book, by turns poetic, witty and full of learning " PATRICK McGUINNESS</b><br><br><i>The Boundless River</i> takes the reader into a unique world ‒ the twilight zone between fact and fiction, science and imagination ‒ and on a journey which moves effortlessly from a time in prehistory, long before the existence of a European continent, to the present day. Along the way Deen encounters paleontologists, geologists, museum curators, taxidermists, fishermen and skippers who work the boats, who still see the Rhine as a living entity.<br><br>From the mighty hippos that swam in its waters millions of years ago, to the weary salmon that saw their habitat slowly change and the aurochs that grazed its shores; from the primordial Steinheim Woman to the Roman general Corbulo who commanded settlements along its delta, to a young Goethe: in all of their stories the Rhine is ever present, sometimes as the main character, sometimes as an extra, as a theatre of war, a border between nations, a bathing spot, a killer, a vital transport route.<br><br><b>Beautifully fluid, rich and captivating, <i>The Boundless River</i> shows how the Rhine connects and divides, terrifies, comforts, carries and swallows, and has done since the beginning of time.</b><br><br><b>Translated from the Dutch by Jane Hedley-Prôle and Jonathan Reeder</b></p>