Literature and Fiction · Hardback

Bare mamma som er Gud

Line Nyborg

Only Mother, Who is God is Line Nyborg's debut novel, and a rare treat: an unusually perceptive and tender tale of family life. Elin and her elderly parents live in a small place in northern Norway. Her mother is a hardworking woman, who holds down a job in a bank as well as being a housewife in the old-fashioned sense. Eli's father is an unemployed alcoholic. The novel follows the eleven-year-old throughout a time when she learns to examine her surroundings with ever growing alertness. The narrative is shaped by many small details, by painful situations, intrusive glances and sharp observations. It is hard to avoid being moved by this account of a living reality. Line Nyborg speaks lovingly about things that hurt.