Hard Copy: A story of girl meets printer [Paperback]

Spending long hours in her claustraphobic office cubicle, a customer service assistant is struggling. Isolated, frustrated and lonely, she finds comfort in only one thing: the office printer. As she confides in the printer about her hopes and dreams, her fears and her past, it becomes clear to her that he is listening. But to her employees, the blossoming relationship is a worrying cry for help.

Diagnosed with burnout and placed on leave, she faces severance and  worse  separation from her beloved printer. But she's not about to give up on her only friend without a fight. And, it turns out, neither is he.

'A talented new voice worth paying attention to.'Irish Times
'Equal parts searing intelligence and madcap sweetness. Simply brilliant.'Jenny Mustard
'Very funny on the tedium of office life.'Irish Independent
'Intimate and surprising at every turn& A truly one-of-a-kind novel: I loved it.'Sarah Maria Griffin
This novel has it all. It's smart, captivating, poignant, absurd, moving, and terribly funny.'Jente Posthuma

An incisive debut novel-in-translation about a woman who becomes obsessed with her office printer, for fans of Sayaka Murata and Halle Butler.Fien Veldman(1990) is 2022's recipient of the Joost Zwagerman Essay-award for her essay 'Not really making it', about growing up in a working-class neighbourhood in Leeuwarden. In 2018 she won the Elise Mathilde Essay Award for her essay 'Borders, doors and eyes open'. From 2010 until 2016, she worked as a theatre critic. (And, of course, she has also worked in customer service.)Hard Copyis her debut novel.

Despite its whimsical premise,Hard Copyis at its heart ajoyful, tender,andstrangely relatablenovel. With sharp, playful prose Veldman tells a story in equal partssearing intelligence and madcap sweetness. Simply brilliant. Jenny Mustard, author of Okay Days

This novel hl³—