Mona in Three Acts

In this international bestseller, a woman comes of age in a poignant novel about forgiveness, pain, and self-discovery.

Mona’s demanding mother ruled their home until a car crash took her life and changed their family forever. Left to tend to a distant father and a needy younger brother, Mona finds her new role almost too much to bear. And when a new stepmother, troubled and depressed, adds yet another crack to the family portrait, Mona’s forced to shoulder an even greater share of the emotional burden.

Somewhere between her responsibility to her family and to her own life, Mona finds a route of escape: in a theater career she craves. But for every challenge ahead—romantic, professional, sexual, and familial—Mona wonders how much of her future has already been defined by the challenges of her past.

An emotional, funny, and universal novel about the people, experiences, and choices that make us who we are, Mona in Three Acts is a revelatory journey of a woman’s self-discovery, forgiveness, and courage to finally speak her truth.

Griet Op de Beeck, born in 1973, worked as a drama teacher in the theater for ten years. She has written for the publications Humo and De Morgen in Belgium and is the author of Many Heavens Above the Seventh. Mona in Three Acts, her second novel, is her first to be translated into English. For more information, visit the author at www.grietopdebeeck.be.

Michele Hutchison was born in the United Kingdom and has lived in Amsterdam since 2004. She was educated at UEA and Cambridge and Lyon Universities. She translates literary fiction and nonfiction, poetry, graphic novels, and children’s books. Recent translations include La Superba by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Roxy by Esther Gerritsen, and An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew by Annejet van der Zijl. She is also coauthor, with Rina Mae Acosta, of The Happiest Kids in the World: How Dutch Parents Help Their Kids (and Themselves) by Doing Less.