Fiction

Xiania 1: Klara

Lotta Elstad

My part in the story starts like most stories do: with a thrust and a premature ejaculation. The year is 1922. Klara takes the train from a country village to the capital Kristiania (Xiania) to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy. She's 19 years old, and in her pocket she has a not with a name and an address: Madam Zavarella, Elvegata 2. After the abortion, which almost costs Klara her life, she becomes a part of Madam Zavarella's sphere in the slum in Vaterland. It's a smelly, poor, pulsing underworld, but at Madam Zavarella's stacks of money are hidden in cracks in the walls and under mattresses, there's a motor car in the backyard, connections to the rich villas on Bygdøy peninsula, and even though it's prohibition times, the alcohol is in free flow. Xiania is a portrait of the jazztime in Norway – back when Oslo was known as Kristiania (Xiania). It's the burlesque, snappy and vividly feminist first novel in a planned series. «... so vivid, so fundamentally exciting. Rarely read anything like it. Historical and modern and personal and entertaining and smart and beautiful and well-written all at once.»Thomas Korsgaard, author of Hvis der skulle komme et menneske forbi (Were someone to drop by) «Lotta Elstad’s richly-colored story from 1920’s Oslo is a slow-burning bildungsroman that screams to be adapted for film.» «Not only does the author have a keen eye and a sensitive nose for the less appealing sides the urban life, she also has a downright poetic approach to the hedonism and zest that is often associated with the roaring 20s …»VINDUET Cheeky and fresh! «Elstad folds out a canvas that is wide, vivid and colorful.» «… Elstad writes with a crunch so satisfying that one will sometimes re-read whole paragraphs to fully take in the cheeky style.»VG, 5/6 stars «Xiania 1 is an unusually charming novel ... more than anything it’s a story with great drive, told with bounce in its language.»NRK Clever and wild noir from the east side «Xiania definitely created expectations to the continuation, more than anything because the author is so inspired and inventive.»AFTENPOSTEN «Elstad's writing is raw and wonderful.»STAVANGER AFTENBLAD, five/six stars «It will take a lot for a Norwegian book to have a stronger opening this year ... The opening line [...] has already become iconic, and Xiania keeps the linguistic pace throughout the book.»NATT & DAG