The Knife in the Fire (Innbundet)

Ruijan rannalla - Songs from the Arctic Ocean

Author:

Ingeborg Arvola

Norwegian title: Kniven i ilden
Norwegian subtitle: Ruijan rannalla - Sanger fra ishavet
Author:
Binding: Innbundet
Year: 2022
Pages: 448
Publisher: Cappelen Damm
Språk: Bokmål
ISBN/EAN: 9788202762742
Kategori: Literature and Fiction
Overview Kniven i ilden

The Knife in the Fire is a riveting historical novel about work and love, strong communities, and carefree erotica, the individual and the community.

The year is 1859. Brita Caisa Seipajærvi straps on her skis and takes the long road from Finland to Norway with her two children. Brita Caisa has been disciplined by the church for having an affair with a married man. She can heal animals and humans. The destination for their journey is Bugøynes, where the sea is said to be brimming with cod.

The Knife in the Fire is the first title in the Ruijan rannalla/Songs from the Arctic Ocean series, about Finnish Kvens and the landscape they live in. Brita Caisa was the great-great-grandmother of author Ingeborg Arvola. Arvola’s writing evokes the smell of blood after slaughtering reindeer, the taste of cloudberries, the feeling of coldness from the snow and heat from the fire.

WINNER OF THE BRAGE PRIZE FOR BEST WORK OF FICTION 2022
NOMINATED TO NORDIC COUNCIL LITERATURE PRIZE 2023

NOMINATED FOR THE BOOKSELLER'S AWARD 2022
NOMINATED FOR THE CRITIC'S AWARD 2022
NOMINATED FOR THE YOUTH CRITIC'S AWARD 2022

The Knife in the Fire is a magnificent epic tale by Ingeborg Arvola. A fascinating and riveting read, with an ending promising for a future continuation. And yes, the publisher promises that there will be a trilogy. ******
VG

A dramatic, poetic and steamy novel sets the bar high

[M]ore than anything, it's the forbidden attraction and love between Brita Caisa and the married Askan Mikko that gives the story its force. It's been long since bodies and desire have been portrayed so nakedly and simply put, sexy, in a Norwegian book! A sensuous, realistic and very poetic novel.
KLASSEKAMPEN

This really is an absolute treat of a novel. *****
ALTAPOSTEN

Juicy sex and unbridled desire
... Bestseller-potential. ... a riveting novel about love, work and superstition. ... historically interesting. ... can be read in one lustful rush. *****
DAGBLADET

There is much to like about this novel, dealing with an less communicated part of the Norwegian, Sami and Kven history. The writing is excellent, the story is exciting and dramatic, the descriptions of the landscape are beautiful, and the character descriptions are realistic. *****
AFTENPOSTEN

Most exciting is the descriptions of the love between Brita Caisa and the married farmer Mikko, with intensely sensual erotic writing as a result. Together they are greater than his bible and triumphing the judgement by society.
STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

Forbidden love, boiling arctic fishing and warm hands. Ingeborg Arvola's novel set in Northern Norway has everything required to become a bestseller. ... lovesickness this hot – and equally steamy lovemaking – I have not encountered in a Norwegian novel in quite some time.
NRK.NO

Oh my, The Knife in the Fire is a good book ... Human and nature really melt together when Brita and Mikko are alone (without clothes) in the dead of night. And here Arvola writes so intensely and powerfully that the reading glasses fog up to ... All in all, Arvola writes really, really well. Insanely well, in fact. Like a dream you didn't know you were walking around with.
BERLINGSKE (DENMARK), five/six stars

A fascinating novel about the problems of cohabitation among nomads in Lapland.
POLITIKEN (DENMARK)

Arvola writes a bygone world out of oblivion, a Scandinavian Wild West where life was hard and death quick. It is not difficult to understand why 'The Knife in the Fire' has received so much praise. In the novel there is a hard-to-define energy that inspires confidence in art as well as life. It radiates not only from the exceptional character of the protagonist but also from the very language of the book.
GOTHENBURG POST (SWEDEN)

It is not difficult to understand that Arvola was awarded the Brage Prize, Norway's highest literary award, for this novel. It is a fascinating portrait of people's lives in an area during a time rarely described in literature.
VI LÄSER (SWEDEN)

I am totally blown away by the power of the portrayal and without a doubt name this one of the greatest reading experiences of 2024, even though the year is only a few weeks old! ... [U]nforgettable and impressive. Ingeborg Arvola received the 2022 Norwegian Brage Award for the masterpiece. An excellent choice!
ALINGSÅS NEWSPAPER (SWEDEN)

It is a beautiful book with a poetic, soaring language ... a both painful and life-giving experience.
SYDSVENSKAN (SWEDEN)

It is with great empathy that Ingeborg Arvola puts Brita Caisa and her sons on a pair of skis and sends them out in search of a new life... I salute Marianne Mattsson, who must have struggled with the translation of a prose that wanted to maintain a linguistic tradition, where, for example, the same person can have three different names.
AFTONBLADET (SWEDEN)

Besides the figure of Brita Caisa Seipajærvi, who both fascinates and frustrates, it is the insight into a world that is new to me that is the biggest takeaway from 'The Knife in the Fire'. The northern Norwegian Finnmark, which I have never visited in reality, and neither can I remember travelling there via literature’s travel agency. Ingeborg Arvola succeeds in portraying both the magnificent and the challenging life that characterizes the place. The story teems like the cod in the sea off the coast.
GEFLE NEWSPAPER (SWEDEN)

Arvola creates a strong presence with her intense snapshots of work and togetherness with people living in the grip of nature and chance. Poetry flows through the brutal narrative while dreams turn to dust and Brita and Mikko walk towards the abyss. But the last word about them has not been said. A trilogy is promised. As a reader, you are hooked. You want to know how it goes for these tightly drawn people, drawn into a vortex of emotions and events.
VÄSTERBOTTENS-KURIREN (SWEDEN)

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More books by Ingeborg Arvola:

Reviews Kniven i ilden

Vidunderlig og storslagen roman fra Ingeborg Arvola 05.08.2022


«Bokens persongalleri er enormt, frodig og fargerikt.»

«... fascinerende og fjetrende lesning, med en slutt som bare åpner for en fortsettelse.»

«Dette er storslagent epos fra Ingeborg Arvola. «Kniven i ilden» skjærer inn i et krevende liv på Nordkalotten, med den fascinerende kvinnen Brita Caisa i front - vakker og myteomspunnet [...]»

«Og ja, forlaget lover en trilogi. Bare å glede seg.»

 
Guri Hjeltnes, VG

Saftig sex og tøylesløst begjær 11.08.2022

«Her er det potensial for en storselger.»

«... en medrivende roman om kjærlighet, arbeid og overtro.»

«Her er spennende stoff, drama og driv.»

«... en medrivende og historisk interessant roman»

«... kan leses i ett begjærlig jafs.»

 
Maya Troberg Djuve, Dagbladet

Kvenkvinnen som smilte sola frem 17.08.2022

«Det er så mye å like i denne romanen»

«Språket er godt, fortellingen er spennende og dramatisk, natur-beskrivelsene er vakre, og person-tegningene er troverdige.»

«Dette er altså en skikkelig godbit av en roman»

 
Solgunn Solli, Altaposten

Finner i Finnmark 16.08.2022

«Medrivende om finske innvandrere i Finnmark [...] Det motivisk-tematiske mangfoldet er slående: Livet ved havet og på vidda og ved elva, i allslags vær og til alle årstider, rapporter om rein, pulk, skigåing og skolte-samer, pomorhandel og spritsalg, forholdet mellom foreldre og barn, behovet for å gå i sauna, gleden ved dans og finske sanger, frykten for å bli joiket, bibel versus folkelig overtro [...] Slutten er tankevekkende og bør ikke røpes.»

 
Steinar Sivertsen, Stavanger Aftenblad

«... en fortryllende og trollbindende tidsreise tilbake til år 1859.»

«Dette må være årets beste roman, en ganske så fornøyelig leseopplevelse, jeg skulle ønske var betraktelig lengre.»

«... en bok som passer for absolutt alle, den er drivende god, og dramatikk på høyde med verdenstoppen innen romansjangeren.»

«... i er heldig som har så dyktige forfattere som Arvola i Norge.»

 
Simen Ingemundsen, Randaberg 24

Feberhett fra Finnmark 28.08.2022

«... som en vill vårflom.»

«... Arvola skriver med uimotståelig sensualitet»

«... romanen er som en vill vårflom av sensualitet.»

«Om jeg skal tippe, vil Kniven i ilden bli Ingeborg Arvolas store gjennombrudd som forfatter.»

Anne Merethe K. Prinos, Aftenposten

Svulmende saga fra nord 23.08.2022

«Forbudt kjærlighet, sydende ishavsfiske og helbredende hender. Ingeborg Arvolas finnmarksroman har alt som skal til for å bli en bestselger. ... maken til het kjærlighetslengsel – og like dampende elskov – er det lenge siden jeg har lest om i en norsk roman.»

Anne Cathrine Straume, nrk.no

Finnmarkens folk 14.08.2022

«kjærlighet og sex av den forbudte sorten, ekteskap som ryker, foreldre og barn som splittes, økonomi som krakelerer, et lokalsamfunn som får noe å sladre om [...] framfor alt er det den forbudte tiltrekningen og kjærligheten mellom Brita Caisa og den gifte Askan Mikko som setter futt i fortellingen. Det er lenge siden kropper og begjær er blitt så nakent og beint fram sexy framstilt i en norsk roman! En sanselig, virkelighetsnær og svært poetisk bok.»

Janneken Øverland, Klassekampen

Beskrivelsen av Brita og Mikko i nattens mulm og mørke får lesebrillene til å dugge

"I det hele tatt skriver Arvola virkelig, virkelig godt. Sinnsykt godt, faktisk. Som en drøm, man ikke visste man gikk rundt med."

 
Jakob Genz, Berlingske (Danmark)

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Author Ingeborg Arvola

Ingeborg Arvola (b. 1974) grew up in Pasvikdalen and Tromsø in the far north of Norway. She made her debut with the novel Korellhuset, published in 1999. She has since written a number of novels for children and adults. She has received the Cappelen Prize in 2004 and Havmannprisen in 2008. In 2019 she was awarded The Ministry of Culture Prize for Children´s Books for her novel Buffy By is Talented, a book she was also nominated to the Brage Prize for.In 2022 The Knife in the Fire, the first book in her trilogy Songs from the Arctic Ocean, was published to great acclaim. It was awarded Best Fiction at the Brage Prize 2022, and was nominated to a number of Norway’s other most prestigious literary awards, such as the Critics Award and the Bookseller Award. It is also nominated to the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2023.

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Finland
France
Germany
Netherlands
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