Skip to main content
Two sisters’ fatal love for the same man

A Revolver Shot

Virginie Loveling

Marie and her sister Georgine, who is eleven years younger, live together in the family home after the death of their parents. Both sisters fall in love with their neighbour Luc Hancq, but he strings them along. He flirts with Marie, but eventually proposes marriage to Georgine. When the sisters discover that he has been two-timing them, they show solidarity for one another and hatch a plan: Hancq is murdered. But shortly afterwards, Georgine dies unexpectedly. Now Marie is all by herself and the villagers start referring to her as Mad Marie.

A brilliantly structured book
NRC

In this brilliantly structured book, with its virtuoso use of perspective, Loveling takes the reader on a harrowing journey through the protagonist’s psyche, back to a time when Mad Marie was simply Marie. Loveling paints a stunning picture of a woman full of complexity, longing, ambivalence and sensitivity, who feels the need to be recognised.

While the title hints at a thrilling detective story or a whodunnit, ‘A Revolver Shot’ is so much more than that. It’s a Shakespearean drama, regional novel, gothic novel and naturalistic novel all in one. In Marie, Loveling has created a passionate, complex and intriguing protagonist. ‘A Revolver Shot’ has also been praised for its beautiful language, its atmosphere and tight composition. The novel, a highlight of Loveling’s acclaimed oeuvre, is so well written that it has been captivating readers for over a century.

Loveling gives us an uncompromising, heart-rending glimpse into the emotions of someone who repeatedly gets the short end of the stick in life.
author Annelies Verbeke
A formidable psychological novel
Tzum