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Literature and FictionClear all
A Hundred Thousand Hours
Literature and Fiction2012 · 136 pp

A Hundred Thousand Hours

Gro Dahle

2012 is a jubilee year twice over for Gro Dahle. She celebrates 25 years as a writer and also, on the 15th May, her 50th birthday. This is the background to this new edition of A Hundred Thousand Hours, her 1996 collection of poetry, which became a classic. Steinar Opstad has written a new Afterword and, recorded on an included CD, the author reads the entire collection. Gro Dahle is one of the most loved of contemporary poets. Audience (1987) was the first of her seven collections. She has written for both adults and children, in many genres, and been awarded several literary prizes. She is particularly well known for her poetic books for children on themes which are normally not well covered. Her first novel for adults was The House in the Snow (Huset i snøen, 2006). Gro Dahle is also a highly regarded literary consultant and lecturer. A Hundred Thousand Hours is a collection of poems about the family, especially about mothers and daughters. «Gro Dahle writes intensely well about the bonds between mothers and their children.»Margreta Tveisme, Dag og Tid«I feel as if exposed to a 100 000 kWh charge and am still in shock.»Jan Jakob Tønseth, Dagbladet«... a definitive breakthrough in a great record of writing: poetry that deserves the widest readership. I am at a loss to think how to recommend this book in the best possible way.»Tore Renberg, Stavanger Aftenblad

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I Should Have Locked You Up
Literature and Fiction2012 · 144 pp

I Should Have Locked You Up

Hilde Lindset

En far konfronterer sønnen med overgrepsbeskyldninger, en musikklærer kjører en omvei med sin altfor unge elev, og en helt alminnelig dverg utøver en merkelig makt over et reisende par. Hilde Lindset skriver konsentrerte noveller om det tilsynelatende hverdagslige, men som hele tiden presses mot det underforståtte og metaforiske.

I can see in the dark
Literature and Fiction / Mystery and Crime2012 · 224 pp

I can see in the dark

Karin Fossum

Riktor doesn´t ask the policeman why he has stormed into his house without knocking - he´s certain that someone has finally realised what happened that day. As the policeman questions him, however, Riktor realises that he´s being accused of something completely unexpected - something he has nothing to do with. But can Riktor convince the policeman that he´s innocent of one wrongdoing without revealing that he´s guilty of another, far more terrible, crime? The storytelling is outstanding...Dark, brilliant and guaranteed to leave you feeling queasy.CRIMEFICTIONLOVER Fossum´s elucidation of the criminally degenerate mind is first-rate.DAILY MAIL A superb writer of psychological suspense.NEW YORK TIMES Fossum writes humane thrillers, which perturb and chill.OBSERVER

Rights soldSold to 10 territories
Long Live the Post Horn!
UpLit / Literature and Fiction2012 · 184 pp

Long Live the Post Horn!

Vigdis Hjorth

Winner of the Critics’ Award 2012 Ellinor is a communications consultant in her thirties. She can’t help but feel that her life is lacking meaningful intensity, that her life is a trivial contrast to her feelings of despair. When a colleague suddenly leaves the firm Ellinor has to see through a project all by herself. By teaching postal workers in Postkom about media, influence and politics, Ellinor is supposed to better equip them in their opposition to the implementation of EU’s Postal Legislation. However, the question arises; who is teaching whom?Norwegian reviews: ‘If you are looking for a novel about loneliness and the postal service, chose this one. ... It is practically impossible to decide where to begin when discussing Hjorth’s novels. They are immediate, but also stay with you, kicking around in your mind for a good while afterwards. This time, the story even manages to combine politics, the postal service and a lonely young woman. Can this really be of interest? Yes, it can, when Hjorth does it.’ VG ... a fantastic book. There are few contemporary writers who explore loneliness with greater courage. Hurrah for Hjorth! KLASSEKAMPEN I’ve rarely experienced such high from a novel as from Vigdis Hjorth’s new work about the European Union’s postal directive. ... One of her very best books. ... I’m almost tempted to shout Long live Vigdis Hjorth! AFTENPOSTEN Vigdis Hjorth's Leve posthornet! deserves applause for many things, not least for being something as improbable as a successful political novel about (hold tight now!) the postal directive. ... In every way, a very worthwhile novel by Vigdis Hjorth. BERGENS TIDENDE Few writers can describe a woman near the edge as Hjorth can. ... It is almost the most engaging element in this book. And perhaps also the most original. Hjorth foregrounds politics, not the international kind, but the grey local authority dealings – and shows us its crucial role in our lives. This, in a novel whose apparently most straightforward formulations contain within them an ambiguity and depth that is uniquely Hjorth’s. DAGBLADET Hidden inside the novel lies a small pearl of a story about a letter that only arrived at its destination because the postman truly committed himself to find the proper addressee. This makes Leve posthornet! into more than the narrative about a communication advisor and the postal directive. It also follows that Hjorth’s novel is not primarily about atomised contemporary individuals or nostalgia for letters written by hand, but about communication. If you decide to read one novel about the postal directive this year, it should be this one. DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV An impressive journey of purification. ... In Leve posthornet! , Vigdis Hjorth immerses herself in existential seriousness. Her book is a loud scream; Hjorth has written a powerful novel about identity, authenticity and about making courageous choices ... her perceptions are acute and she writes very well. VÅRT LAND ... when Hjorth takes on the problematic issues of politics and of life in general, with her familiar wit and existential courage, all you can do is give in. DAG OG TID It is great feat to write something as rare as a political and personal novel without creating something that is both dull and too internalised. As always, she composes brilliantly precise sentences, with her utterly unique fingertip feel for flow and choice of words. DAGSAVISEN A rare, realistic, not-post-modern box of candies: a story about politics, poetry and melancholy. ADRESSEAVISEN International Reviews:Quirky, unsettling.KIRKUS REVIEWS The ordinary becomes vibrant and life-affirming in Long Live the Post Horn!, an engrossing novel about how even hopeless battles are worth fighting.FOREWORD REVIEWS Hjorth’s substantive and witty novel of personal growth delivers on multiple levels.PUBLISHERS WEEKLY An emotional, philosophical read … this book is wonderful, and I would urge you to seek it out.ELSPELLS BOOKS A superb story about a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.THE MODERN NOVELWrenching tenderness from the mouth of irony, Hjorth proves how major effects don’t always come from the heavy-foot pedals.John Freeman, LIT HUB (Most Anticipated Books of 2020) Long Live the Post Horn! is a brilliant study of the mundane, full of unexpected detours and driving prose … Hjorth’s novel ingeniously orbits the intimate stories that are possible only when a character has put words on paper and sent them through the post.John Freeman, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW An engaging, well-honed novel … Hjorth’s writing is both spare and, in an understated way, humorous.POPMATTERS A wry and thoughtful take on contemporary life and love … Full of gorgeous Scandi gloom and bleak truths about human relationships.DAILY MAIL [In] Long Live the Post Horn!, the saga of the EU postal directive is an inspired context for a story about personal despair and political awakening.4COLUMNS An acidic portrait of one woman’s fight to save the postal service.NEW REPUBLIC Hjorth holds a magnifying glass to her characters and they fry like ants under the merciless sunlight of her writing. No one of them escapes unscathed, there are no heroes or villains; what we get is a picture of life in a social democracy that is fraying at the edges.Charlotte Barslund, translator of Long Live the Port Horn! in LITERARY HUB Hjorth expertly interrogates feelings of inadequacy in concise paragraphs of wry prose.NEW STATESMAN Droll and rather delightful.MONOCLE A novel about the chicanery of governmental politics has no right to be this absorbing.MORNING STAR A big strange wonderful paper hug of a book … I cannot recommend it highly enough.LITERARY ADDICT Hjorth asks us to imagine a world where those with narrative power protect the stories of the people over the interests of commerce … The timing was right for this book in Norway in 2012, and the timing is right for us now. A novel like Long Live the Post Horn! does not come around often enough.LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOK

Rights soldSold to 6 territories
Ghosts in the Night
Literature and Fiction2012 · 176 pp

Ghosts in the Night

Siri M. Kvamme

Six years ago, Lisa and Lars lost touch with their only child, their son Aksel. He was fourteen years old when he vanished without a trace. Lisa cannot bear to give up hoping that, one day, they will find out what happened to their son, but Lars seems able to carry on with his life. The story, in which Lisa and Lars share their central roles with a neighbour and a tenant, takes place during a string of sunny summer days on an idyllic island. Erotic tension and misguided desires grow between the characters; then lies and secrets follow. The real issue is whether Lisa and Lars can have any relationship after Aksel's disappearance. Is clinging to hope worse than facing up to hopelessness?

Operation Helena
Literature and Fiction / Mystery and Crime2012 · 304 pp

Operation Helena

Johnny Brenna / Sigbjørn Mostue

The killing of a police informer by torpedoes brings about the collapse of a prestigious heroin operation being run by Oslo police’s Special Operations Section (SO). The newly-appointed detective Axel Th.Munthe and his partner Tobben are left stranded. Shortly afterwards, fifteen-year-old Caroline Fredrikke Walters, daughter of a wealthy investor, is brutally kidnapped and raped. Instead of picking up the threads of the heroin case, the department’s resources are channelled into finding the girl before it is too late. The case brings Axel into contact with the darkest sides of Norwegian society, where international crime syndicates are are already spreading their tentacles. It makes for a tough introduction to the world of human depravity, but there is light in the form of Noor, a woman Axel feels may be the right one for him. ‘Sigbjørn Mostue and Jonny Brenna have joined forces and written a disturbing thriller set in the criminal world in the capital.’ Oppland Arbeiderblad ‘Sigbjørn Mostue and Johnny Brenna impress with a well-constructed plot and a wealth of detail in their first work of crime fiction. (...) Dense, realistic tale of investigating crime in Oslo’s underworld.’ Dagbladet ‘Operasjon Helena is fantastic. So well written and so exciting I almost stopped breathing!’ Liv Gade, Bokinspirator‘Narcotics, organised crime, mutilation, honey traps; all feature in an ice-cold overview of the everyday reality of police work in Oslo that is the starting point for an action-driven and quite cynical narrative.’ VG ‘A successful debut!’ Kulturspeilet ‘The plot in Operasjon Helena and the account of the on-going police work are the most realistic seen in Norwegian crime fiction for a long time. And it feels good to be able to welcome a protagonist who doesn’t struggle with alcohol problems and who likes being a team player together with his police colleagues.’ Trønder-Avisa

The Word For What I Am Now Does Not Exist
Literature and Fiction2012 · 184 pp

The Word For What I Am Now Does Not Exist

Rannveig Fern Leite Molven

... I don't want to carry on, I don't want to move further and further away from what was, from you, I hate every new day that dawns and fades, every day that wedges itself in and separates us more and more, every day that adds to the space between where you were and where I am now. An assured and stylish first novel about loss, grief and remembering, and about how death changes the one who is left behind.

Chasm
Literature and Fiction2012 · 416 pp

Chasm

Lars Saabye Christensen

A big new novel by Lars Saabye Christensen: it contains brilliant stories from a summer in Oslo in the 60s and a nightmarish period spent in Karmack, a small North American town. The link is Funder, the protagonist, whose loyalty is tested when, at the age of fifteen, he stays alone with his mother (and, on and off, four aunts) for a summer spent in a house on Nesodden near Oslo. In the second half of the novel, Funder is admitted for treatment to an institution in the United States. By then, he is almost sixty years old, his father has just died and his mother is on her deathbed. Funder, who has become an author, is far from happy. Sluk is a sharp and entertaining novel which is consistent with the author's earlier work but also shows new sides to his talent. ‘I have rarely read a more poetical, elegant and original biography of an author. It is entertaining as well – and with an epilogue so intense, heavy with existence, authentic and beautiful that it simply knocks me out.’Dagbladet ‘Sluk is a novel based on equal parts of poetic aggression and the joy of story-telling. An autobiographical novel which you cannot possibly be unaffected by.’VG ‘A master of repetition … Lars Saabye Christensen presents an offer Norwegian book lovers cannot refuse. It starts as an echo and ends as an unbeatable masterpiece.’Aftenposten ‘… one of the best novels from Christensen.’Bergens Tidende‘… a beautiful homage to the housewives of the sixties, and a sort of wrapped reminder of what actually means something in this world … a successful novel, and an especially beautiful depiction of a mother’s love.’Dagsavisen ‘… simply brilliant.’Vårt Land ‘A tender, sad and beautiful book about death, guilt and reconciliation. … Possibly his strongest and best book since The Half Brother.’Adresseavisen ‘This book can be understood in so many different ways and offers such an exceptional reading experience which this reader, for one, would not have missed.’Trønder-Avisa (6 points out of 6) ‘The new novel, Sluk, more than measures up to our expectations. The author is even better than before.’NRK P2

Rights soldSold to 6 territories
Stasia
Literature and Fiction2012 · 176 pp

Stasia

Peter Franziskus Strassegger

A novel about Armin and Stasia who are uncared-for siblings leading rootless lives. Their parents are always on the move, running some kind of business venture in Europe. One day, they turn up to get their children who have been staying with their Norwegian grandmother; together, they travel from one country to the next, living almost like a circus family. Their story is told from Armin's point of view, but he expresses himself above all in terms of his fantasy life. The tougher the outside reality becomes, the more uneasy Armin feels about staying inside his dream world. He has a strong bond with his sister, who is the firm centre of his life. When she suddenly vanishes one day, Armin finds it increasingly difficult to keep reality and imagination apart. The portrait of this unconventional family and their restless existence creates an enclosed world. It is an emotionally charged but also objective narrative about children growing up in circumstances which may seem extreme but are not without ordinary features. A grim novel about a lost child and his experience of reality. The language is simple and absurdly funny. ‘…extraordinary, inventive and consuming.’Dagbladet‘… stylish and thought provoking by a debutant who knows what he is doing.’Stavanger Aftenblad

This Sweet Life
Literature and Fiction2011 · 432 pp

This Sweet Life

Siri Østli

Mari, Charlotte and Irmela are growing up in a small place called Barkestad. They are best friends and share everything – until Charlotte and Irmela have one of these juvenile rows and it ruins their relationship. A few years later, they all meet in Oslo's bohemian Grünerløkka quarter; Mari tries bravely to mediate between the friends, even though she has her own issues to deal with. So have all three of them, in fact. Mari, who is coping with post-natal depression, finds a note on the kitchen table. It's written by her beloved Peter, who has moved out and left her alone with nearly-new-born Lilja in an old, draughty house with the cellar stocked with fine wines. Irmela, impulsive as ever, has run away from her church wedding, right in the middle of the ceremony. And now she worries about whether she's married or not. Charlotte, who is goal-oriented, wants just two things: a permanent job as a journalist and the status of a fashion icon. But first she simply must help Mari to sort out her life and make Irmela realise that somewhere, her husband is waiting for her.

Fvonk
Literature and Fiction2011 · 176 pp

Fvonk

Erlend Loe

Just as Fvonk is contemplating life in general, a large, shiny, very clean car of a German make glides up the drive and stops without cutting the engine. It is black, has darkened windows and looks official. Fvonk resents all interference by the authorities and this one in particular. A few seconds later, the rear door on the right opens and a woman in her fifties climbs out. Irritatingly, the door makes a hollow, thumping noise – boom, boom, boom – a signal alerting everyone to the fact that it is open. The woman slams the door and checks her surroundings, making sure that she isn't observed by anyone except Fvonk. But there are just the two of them present – this woman and Fvonk. At the time when the Norway Hiking & Exercise Association was going through a rough patch, Fvonk was an employee. He can testify to the financial mess. Fvonk is deeply uninterested in culture. Then a lodger moves into his place, but not a Nobody. On the contrary, quite a Somebody. As it happens, his name is Jens and, as it happens, he is the Prime Minister. ‘With a bubbling joy of telling a story Erlend Loe creates a room where the country’s most powerful man can finally be himself. … Fvonk is first and foremost a highly entertaining book about a friendship out of the ordinary.’Vårt Land ‘Loe creates several entertaining situations with this cartoonish universe. Both on and between the lines a clear critique of The Norwegian Social Democracy’s ways of understanding and behavior can be found.’VG ‘Like most of Erlend Loe’s books, this too is a light read, light philosophy, lightly consummated. But it is not necessarily simple as a result. Because if you liked Naiv.Super. or Tatt av kvinnen, you will like this one too.’Sandefjords Blad ‘It is hard to imagine why Jens Stoltenberg felt offended by Loe’s story, because it is sensitive, sympathetic and wonderfully naïve, in best Loe style. The narrative is a stream of consciousness – often, stretching over entire pages as thoughts, separated only by commas, are reeled off at a headlong pace. It gives the novel and its language an authentic and overflowing tone that suits the two protagonists.’ Jyllands-Posten, DK ‘Laugh and have your heartstrings tugged by Erlend Loe’s new novel about Fvonk … Fvonk is filled with warmth, craziness and tiny, precise detail; it is one of the kind of stories that one swallows whole in a great gulp, despite its mad, unbelievable plot.’ Weekendavisen, DK ‘A true Loe book.’ Elle, DK ‘Yet another funny novel by Loe about the role-playing we do in our daily lives and about the need to be oneself that goes along with it, despite everything – also, one hopes, true of the powerful in the land.’ Politiken, DK ‘Erlend Loe has got a grip on both the Prime Minister and ordinary people in his ironically affectionate novel full of social criticism. Behind the power there is always a human being. Behind every book there is an author. Erlend Loe is one of those able to see through all the trappings in a way that elicits both smiles and tears, but never a malicious laugh. Which is very well done.’ Fyens Stiftstidende, DK

Rights soldSold to 8 territories
Through the Night
Literature and Fiction2011 · 272 pp

Through the Night

Stig Sæterbakken

Dentist Karl Meyer's worst nightmare comes true when his son, Ole-Jakob, takes his own life. This tragedy forms the springboard for a complex and diverse novel, which asks essential questions about human experience. What does sorrow do to a person? How can one live with the pain of unbearable loss? How far will a man be driven by the grief and despair surrounding the loss of his child? Gjennom natten is a dark story, drawing on elements from dreams, fairy-tales and horror stories, as it explores the mysterious ways of sorrow and love. ‘Stig Sæterbakken’s novel Gjennom natten must be one of this year’s most fabulous ones – in the fabulous books’ darkest, most heart-rending way.’Vårt Land ‘Stig Sæterbakken’s first paragraph in the novel Gjennom natten is a brilliant start to a black and heart-breaking journey in mourning.’VG ‘Garanteed one of this year’s best novels … This is Sæterbakken at his best, and Norwegian literature doesn’t get much better than this.’Adresseavisen ‘… a language which makes you hold your breath in the right places, and chase from side to side, from room to room, as if in a suspense novel.’Aftenposten ‘Stig Sæterbakken sounds deeper than most writers, and with Gjennom natten he has added a new dark, painful and artistically successful novel to his authorship.’Stavanger Aftenblad ‘An almost inapproachable theme, which writer Stig Sæterbakken circles in in a way which can be called a literary feat of strength.'Dagsavisen ‘A black, merciless masterpiece from Stig Sæterbakken … It is painful, but also rewarding to read, first and foremost because Sæterbakken writes extremely well. The language never becomes a shield or a filter, to the contrary, it drills into the darkness, with a precision and ingenuity in the use of images which paradoxically feels like a relief.’Dagbladet ‘This novel by Stig Sæterbakken is strong and fine and deadly serious, en ambitious, excellent narrative in a stylish and simple, but effective language.’ Dag og Tid ‘Sæterbakken writes about the labyrinth of sorrow and does it beautifully.’ Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen ‘As the novel moves on to take place in that house, you know the one, in Bratislava, you really feel as if the entire experience of reading vanished into the night. You can’t quite work out what is going on, but your spine is tingling with anxiety.’ Bergens Tidende ‘You do know the feeling, don’t you? Wishing that the book would never end? Your attempts to hold back to make reading last, not read too much in one go? Such books are rare. But Stig Sæterbakken’s latest novel Gjennom natten is one of these.' Fædrelandsvennen

Rights soldSold to 8 territories