Luxembourg — The Book Roads

Books from Luxembourg

Chris Pavone

Kate Moore appears to have built a comfortable new life in Luxembourg. After her husband accepts a lucrative job abroad, she leaves Washington, D.C., behind and settles into the routines of expatriate life: school drop-offs, coffee mornings, and weekend trips around Europe. But Kate is hiding a dangerous secret about her past, and the ordinary life she has constructed is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. When Kate begins to suspect that another American couple in Luxembourg are not who they claim to be, her suspicions grow. Her husband is also behaving strangely, and his work for an undisclosed banking client raises questions she cannot ignore. As she investigates the people around her, Kate discovers that the lives of the expatriates in her seemingly peaceful community are far more complicated than they appear. Moving between the polished world of international professionals and the shadowy realm of espionage, Pavone builds a suspenseful story of deception, double-crossing, and hidden identities. The novel explores how people reinvent themselves when they move abroad, whether it is possible to escape one’s past, and how secrets can undermine even the closest relationships. The Expats won both the Edgar Award and the Anthony Award for Best First Novel in 2013.

2013

About Luxembourg

Luxembourg is a small, multilingual country in the heart of Western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Its landscape combines wooded hills, river valleys, farmland, and historic towns, while Luxembourg City is known for its dramatic fortified old quarters, bridges, and deep river valleys. The country’s culture reflects its position at the crossroads of Germanic and Romance Europe, with Luxembourgish, French, and German all playing important roles in public and cultural life.

Region: Europe

Literary Context

Luxembourg has a distinctly multilingual literary tradition, with writers working primarily in Luxembourgish, French, and German. Early literature was strongly connected to folklore, religious writing, songs, and local storytelling, while the development of Luxembourgish as a literary language became closely linked to the country’s emerging national identity. Important writers include Michel Rodange, best known for the satirical epic Renert, and Nik Welter, a poet, playwright, and cultural figure who helped establish Luxembourgish literature in the modern period. Later writers such as Anise Koltz, Edmond de la Fontaine (Dicks), and Jean Portante have expanded Luxembourg’s literary presence across languages and borders. Contemporary literature often explores multilingualism, identity, migration, European belonging, memory, and the experience of living between cultures and languages.