Literature and Fiction · Hardback

ICE SCORCH

Norwegian title: Isbrann

Kjersti Kollbotn

Knut and Sissel, a couple in their forties, move from a city in Eastern Norway to a smallholding in Western Norway to start a new and more natural life. Knut's great dream is to live as one with animals and nature. Physical labour and closeness to nature will make him stronger in body and mind.However, he also has to take a part-time job in the municipality's building and planning department to earn a living. And, as it turns out, it's not that easy to run a farm using old methods such as a horse and cart. Not least the water freezing in the winter poses a challenge. Slowly but surely the problems in Knut and Sissel's relationship float to the surface: Knut has a daughter from a previous relationship and doesn't want more children, but Sissel's biological clock is ticking.Kjersti Kollbotn's story of two people's struggle to find their place in the world is unsentimental yet insightful.

‘Kollbotn is exploring a serious theme. She does not only point out that men are also bullied, downtrodden and that they also feel excluded in today’s society, she follows the main character and paints a convincing and apparently truthful picture of him. Kjersti Kollbotn has once again succeeded in making way for new insight into how complex cohabitation and relationships between men and women can be – even from a man’s point of view.’NORDLYS‘Kjersti Kollbotn writes well and precisely. She understands her material and its environment, the mentality of the people and the nature in a west-coast village.’DAG OG TID