UpLit · Hardback

Lonely Hearts Bar

Norwegian title: De ensomme hjerters bar

Arnt SteffensenKjersti Herland Johnsen

Welcome to The Lonely Hearts Bar – a place for old secrets, new beginnings, and the perfect drink for every occasion!

On the 1st of December, Lisa's boyfriend Martin gets down on one knee and proposes. He’s a baron and heir to a grand estate in England, and Lisa quickly realises that marrying into his family will come with strict rules and heavy expectations. Is that really what she wants? When she’s passed over for a long-anticipated promotion at work, she decides to take a break and travels to Oslo to deal with some surprising news. There, she discovers she has inherited an old apartment building and with it, a charming cocktail bar with deep roots in the bohemian heyday of 19th-century Kristiania.

At The Lonely Hearts Bar, Lisa meets a warm and eccentric community: the wise bartender Henri, the quirky lawyer Brenden, the fiery Astrid, and the passionate chef Trond. The bar is under threat of closure, but Lisa and the gang set out to save it – with PR stunts, cultural events, and Christmas festivities. At first, she keeps running into problems with Trond but is there more to him than she first realised? Lisa is also relentlessly approached by the gruff businessman Erik Rud, who wants to buy the entire apartment building. But Lisa discovers that her own history is more intertwined with The Lonely Hearts Bar and the bar than she imagined.

In the midst of the pre-Christmas snow, gingerbread, concert plans and the threat of losing her job, Lisa finds something she didn't know she needed. It will be a December filled with old family secrets, risky decisions, warm drinks – and perhaps, love.

Told as a Christmas calendar, the novel unfolds one chapter for each day of Advent, and every chapter includes a drink recipe from The Lonely Hearts Bar.