Maria is afflicted by a mental illness, and her entire family life is thrown out of balance. As Maria withdraws, Audhild, a brand new acquaintance, takes over more and more of Maria’s caregiving tasks and eventually becomes important source of support for Erik. This new addition to their everyday life isn’t without its problems. The novel switches between Maria’s dissociative state and Erik’s situation as caregiver and next of kin. Will Maria ever come back to them? Does her role as a mother have anything to do with her desire to come back? And what happens to the children as their mother withdraws? Will Erik be able to deal with the crisis the family finds itself in?

I Don’t Have It in Me To Be a Parent Representative is a dark, funny, topical and claustrophobic novel from a seemingly completely normal Norwegian life with small children.