Agency_Spring_2023_Fiction

INGVILD HAUGLAND BLATT Foreign Rights Director

ingvild.haugland@cappelendamm.no Phone +47 414 10 647

ANETTE SLETTBAKK GARPESTAD Rights Manager

anette.garpestad@cappelendamm.no Phone +47 984 82 087

IDA AMALIE SVENSSON Rights Manager

ida.svensson@cappelendamm.no Phone +47 977 50 106

SUNNIVA MIDTSKOGEN Rights Consultant

sunniva.midtskogen@cappelendamm.no Phone +47 984 64 940

CAPPELEN DAMM AGENCY

Cappelen Damm is Norway's largest publishing house, publishing approximately 1000 titles a year within the genres of fiction, non-fiction, educational books and children's books. Cappelen Damm is owned by Egmont.

Cappelen Damm Agency represents the rights of all of the authors in this catalogue. This includes titles from Flamme forlag, an imprint of Cappelen Damm AS.

The Agency is responsible for all foreign book rights, as well as rights for TV, film, radio, anthologies, electronic media etc. We are happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the authors and the sales of foreign rights.

Ingeborg Arvola THE KNIFE IN THE FIRE

The Knife in the Fire is a riveting historical novel about work and love, strong communities, carefree erotica, the individual and the community.

27.700 IN PRINT

The year is 1859. Brita Caisa Seipajærvi straps on her skis and takes the long road from Finland to Norway with her two children. Brita Caisa has been disciplined by the church for having an affair with a married man. She can heal animals and humans. The destination for their journey is Bugøynes, where the sea is said to be brimming with cod.

The Knife in the Fire is the first title in the Ruijan rannalla/Songs from the Arctic Ocean series, about Finnish Kvens and the landscape they live in. Brita Caisa was the great-great-grandmother of author Ingeborg Arvola.

'... Bestseller-potential. ... a riveting novel about love, work and superstition. ... historically interesting. ... can be read in one lustful rush. '

DAGBLADET 

'More than anything, it's the forbidden attraction and love between Brita Caisa and the married Askan Mikko that gives the story its force. It's been long since bodies and desire have been portrayed so nakedly and simply put, sexy, in a Norwegian book! A sensuous, realistic and very poetic novel.'

KLASSEKAMPEN

NOMINATED TO THE BOOKSELLER’S AWARD 2022

NOMINATED TO THE CRITIC’S AWARD 2022 WINNER OF THE BRAGE PRIZE 2022

Ingeborg Arvola (b. 1974) grew up in Pasvikdalen and Tromsø in the far north of Norway. She made her debut with the novel Korellhuset, published in 1999. She has since written a number of novels for children and adults. She has received the Cappelen Prize in 2004 and Havmannprisen in 2008. In 2019 she was awarded The Ministry of Culture Prize for Children´s Books for her novel Buffy By is Talented, a book she was also nominated to the Brage Prize for. In 2022 The Knife in the Fire, the first book in her trilogy Songs from the Arctic Ocean, was published to great commercial and critical acclaim.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Gutkind), Sweden (Albert Bonnier), Germany (btb Luchterhand), Romania (Editura Univers), The Netherlands (Bezige Bij), The Faroe Islands (Sprotin), France (Paulsen), Finland (Gummerus), Egypt (Al Arabi Publishing & Distribution), Germany (btb Luchterhand), Estonia (Eesti Raamat)

Kniven i ilden – Sanger fra Ishavet 130 x 205 mm / 448 pages

Excerpt from The Knife in the Fire:

Nothing tells me that this is fateful. Nothing about the scents, the meadow; nothing about the gusts of wind that lift my hair once more; nothing about the evening sun that breaks through the clouds and makes me shine. It is a perfectly ordinary day. Arduous through the underbrush. The struggle up the last slope accompanied by the clouds of mosquitoes we wakened when we passed the last bog. I am simply me. My body sways like the blades of grass in the meadow as I walk towards the farmyard and the end of the freshly ploughed field.

The man I assume to be Askan-Mikko lays down the reins on the horse’s neck and comes to meet us. His steps are long and soft. We both reach out a hand.

“Hyvä bæivi,” I greet him, and am about to introduce myself when his gaze strikes me.

Vigdis Hjorth FIFTEEN YEARS

Vigdis Hjorth has written a stunning and insightful book about one of the most important events in a human’s life – becoming an adult and growing independent, even when it hurts others.

There is a rhythm in Paula’s life – the meals at the table at home, going skiing in the wilderness with hot toddy and icy breath, the summers at the cabin in Østfold, raspberry bushes and cold-water swimming, the visits to grandma on the West Coast – a rhythm which offers her safety and clarity throughout her childhood. Mother, father, sister, and brother in their little house are the most important people in her life. And then there is Karen, her best friend.

The calm is shattered the summer that Paula discovers the pile of letters her mother has written to grandma. The life her mother describes in the letters is unrecognisable: It says her sister Elisabet performed well in her exams, while in reality she failed them; it says that Elisabet sung a solo at the Christmas recital, which she did not; and it says that the father has been promoted to the head of his office. Paula is barely mentioned.

Her mother’s pretense is a shock to Paula, who is now surrounded by the lies of an adult’s making. How should she relate to her mother? Who can she be in the family now? Paula is on the edge of becoming a teenager, and the world is opening up before her as both a terrible and wonderful place. She doesn’t want to believe in the god her mother pretends she believes in. She doesn’t want to start lying about her life.

'Fifteen years is [Vigdis Hjorth's] most well-written novel yet. ' MORGENBLADET

'What everyone wants to know, of course, is if this is Hjorth at her best. Yes, I think this is Hjorth at her best.'

Femten år. Den revolusjonære våren 130 x 205 mm / 192 pages Rights sold to: Denmark (Turbine), Sweden (Natur & Kultur), Hungary (Polar Egyesület), Italy

Vigdis Hjorth (b. 1959) has over several decades been one of Norway’s most important authors. She published her debut in 1983 in form of the children’s book Pelle-Ragnar and the Yellow Building, for which she received the Norwegian Cultural Council’s Debut Prize. Since then, she has had a prolific and award-winning authorship, writing for both children and adults. She has won several awards in Norway and has been nominated twice for the Nordic Council Literature Prize so far, for Will and Testament (2016) and Is Mother Dead (2020).

Hjorth writes existential books about human conditions and life choices, and throws a sharp gaze at current topics in the contemporary time. With novels such as Long Live the Post Horn! (2012) she has made her mark as a fearless political author. Her big breakthrough came in 2016 with Will and Testament, which became an instant favourite among literature critics as well as a huge sales success. In this novel Hjorth writes about complicated family relationships, about violation and liberation in close relationships, and the right to own one’s own story.

Will and Testament was nominated for the National Book Award and Millions Best Translated Book Award when it was published in the US and the UK in 2019. Hjorth’s novels have been translated into 28 languages.

Photo: Agnete Brun

Vigdis Hjorth IS MOTHER DEAD

The protagonist of Is Mother Dead is an acclaimed artist, Johanna, who has spent three decades in the US with her husband and child. When her husband dies, she returns to Norway, where she is invited to put on a major retrospective.

What remains of the life she left behind in Norway several decades ago? What does she expect to find when she returns? How will she manage to build a bridge between past and present? We follow Johanna’s self-examination as well as her attempts to understand and come closer to her mother.

In this novel, Vigdis Hjorth digs deeper into the mother-daughter issue, once again writing compellingly and profoundly about a timeless theme.

'[A] harrowing and propulsive novel about the strained tether between daughters and mothers…lucidly translated by Charlotte Barslund. Hjorth deftly conveys the psychological warfare of familial conflict in circuitous, searching sentences. Fragments replicate the stab of betrayal, run-ons rummage for truth amid lies.'

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (USA)

‘Vigdis Hjorth's Is Mother Dead is a brooding and searching novel that proves why she is among our very best. The book resembles a thriller; the crescendo is edge-of-your-seat literature. Hjorth is an expert in plotting and linguistic rhythm. Long sections are broken up by pages with plenty of air and low-key reflections, several of which you will return to and read again and again.’

DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV

NOMINATED TO THE NORDIC COUNCILS LITTERATURE PRIZE 2021

Rights sold to: Croatia (Naklada Ljevak), Denmark (Turbine), Finland (Schildts & Söderströms), Greece (Potamos) Sweden (Natur & Kultur), United Kingdom (Verso), United States (Verso Books), Italy (Fazi Editore), Russia (EKSMO Publishing House), Spain (Nórdica Libros), Hungary (Polar Egyesület), Norway (Den Nationale Scene), Poland (Glowbook), Serbia (STRIK Publishing), Germany (S. Fischer Verlag), France (Actes Sud)

Vigdis Hjorth WILL AND TESTAMENT

A classic story of inheritance, centred on two summer cabins on Hvaler.

Two children have been looking after the place and their parents for many years. They are due to inherit the cabins. But there are two other children, who have partly broken away from the family. How do they fit into the inheritance dispute?

During the inheritance discussions another story emerges which brings violent forces into play. It's all about family history.

Will and Testament is a powerful novel, which created great debate when it was first published in 2016.

WINNER OF THE NORWEGIAN BOOKSELLERS AWARD AND THE NORWEGIAN CRITICS AWARD IN 2016.

WINNER OF THE NORWEGIAN CRITICS PRIZE 2016.

NOMINATED TO THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2019. NOMINATED TO THE NORDIC COUNCILS LITERATURE PRIZE 2016.

FULL ENGLISH TRANSLATION AVAILABLE.

NOMINATED TO THE NORDIC COUNCILS

LITTERATURE PRIZE 2016

Rights sold to: Azerbaijan (Qanun Publishing House), Bulgaria (Aviana), Croatia (Ljevak), Denmark (Turbine), Estonia (Eesti Raamat), Faroe Islands (Sprotin Forlag), Finland (Schildts & Söderströms), France (Actes Sud), Germany (Osburg Verlag), Hungary (Polar Egyesület), Italy (Fazi Editore), Lithuania (Alma Littera), Netherlands (Ambo Anthos), Norway (Den Nationale Scene), Poland, Russia (EKSMO), Spain (Nórdica Libros), Sweden (Natur & Kultur), Turkey (Siren Yayinlari), United Kingdom (Verso Books), United States (Verso Books), Brazil (Harper Collins), Egypt (Al-Karma), Greece (Habibbutz Publishers), Portugal (Porto Editora), Romania (Grupul Editorial Art), Serbia (STRIK Publishing House), South Korea (GU-FIC), Germany (S. Fischer Verlag), Greece (Potamos Publishers), Poland (Wydawnictwo Literackie), Sweden (Yellowbird Entertainment), Iceland (Forlagi∂)

Roy Jacobsen

THE UNWORTHY

In Roy Jacobsen’s latest novel, The Unworthy, we follow a gang of boys and girls from an apartment building on the eastside of Oslo during the WWII German occupation. They live in poverty, but they manage by creatively swindling, stealing like magpies, falsifying documents and committing extensive burglaries. They don’t shy away from exploiting the Enemy, either.

With this pack of children, a lauded writer has rendered a brutally frank and warm portrait of a time, a place and an everyday life that thus far have been absent from the stories told of WWII.

The Unworthy is wise, raw and entertaining. A gem of a story, written by an author in his right element.

This is a Roy Jacobsen novel of best mark.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

‘Dramatic, interesting and exciting ... a fantastic picture of an environment and a time that not everyone knows today.’

NETTAVISEN, SIX/SIX STARS

‘The Unworthy has to be one of Roy Jacobsen's best novels.’

KLASSEKAMPEN

‘Roy Jacobsen impresses again, both as astoryteller and a portrayer of people … an organic and unpredictable literary universe, as asymmetric and restless as life itself.’ DN

NOMINATED FOR THE BOOKSELLER’S AWARD 2022

Rights sold to: Denmark (Lindhardt & Ringhof), Sweden (Norstedts), Czech Republich (Pistorius & Olšanská), Germany (C. H. Beck), Estonia (Eesti Raamat), Polen (Wydawnictwo Poznanskie sp. z o.o)

Roy Jacobsen (b. 1954) is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary authors in Norway, and has since his sensational debut in 1982, with the short story collection Prison Life, which won him the prestigious Tarjei Vesaas’ Debutant Prize, developed into an original and daring author with a special interest in the underlying psychological interplay in human relationships. He has been nominated three times for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and twice for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. In 2017 he was shortlisted for both the Man Booker International Prize, as the first Norwegian author ever, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, for The Unseen.

In 2013 Jacobsen’s authorship reached a new milestone with the publication of The Unseen, book one in his now completed Barrøy trilogy. It is set in the first half of the 20th century on an island on the North-Western coast of Norway, and is a monument over human courage and life-saving practical and social knowledge. White Shadow followed in 2015, The Eyes of Rigel in 2017 and Just a Mother in 2020. The Barrøy quartet became an immediate critically acclaimed sales success, it has been translated into 28 languages, and has sold nearly 500.000 copies in Norway alone. In total, Jacobsen has been translated into 36 languages.

Photo: Agnete Brun (Aller)

pages

Roy Jacobsen JUST A MOTHER

Return to Barrøy!

After a long journey through Norway, Ingrid has finally returned to Barrøy. Life has become more stable, but the war still casts its long shadows across the country. Former collaborators face cold shoulders or obscured retaliation. Others simply wish to leave the painful years in the past.

One day a boy arrives on the island. Shortly thereafter, his father disappears. Ingrid assumes responsibility for the boy, and adopts him. As such, Mathias becomes a central part of the Barrøy community, together with Kaja, Ingrid’s daughter by birth. Life on the island is demanding, but the letters from friends in Oslo and Trondheim tell of a Norwegian society undergoing dramatic changes. Which stories should Ingrid keep to herself, and which ones should she bring to light? What kind of future is she imagining?

Just A Mother is the fourth book in a series of novels that have delighted readers in Norway and abroad. It’s a novel about being a parent, being a part of a community, and about living under conditions that require hard labour. It is also a story about parts of our near past that have stayed in the dark. And it’s about an unusual woman, who has to navigate painful experiences in a rough, weather-beaten, and diverse society on the coast of Northern Norway.

‘Roy Jacobsen has added a new chapter to his masterpiece …’ NETTAVISEN

‘It is a pure pleasure to read Roy Jacobsen’s novel Just a Mother. … keeps the reader captivated from the first to the last sentence.’ DAGBLADET

Rights sold to: Czech Republic (Pistorins & Olsanská), Denmark (Gyldendal), Estonia (Eesti Raamat), France (Editions Gallimard), Germany (C.H. Beck Verlag), Poland (Wydawnictwo Poznanskie), Sweden (Norstedts), UK (MacLehose Press), Italy (Iperborea S.r.l.), Iceland (Forlagið), Finland (Sitruuna kustannus Oy), Lithuania (Lithuanian Writer's Union), The Netherlands (Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij), The Faroe Islands (Sprotin), South-Korea (Zahn)

Bare en mor 130 x 205 mm / 279

'The past as a mirror for the present […] Roy Jacobsen’s stories about the islanders on the Helgeland coast gradually resemble a magnificent saga about the basic human conditions in the struggle with nature. […] Roy Jacobsen’s own words that ‘a historical novel should be a contemporary novel’ feel true. The author is a master of dialogues where secrets and trivialities form minefields and tensions.'

DAGSAVISEN, NORWAY

'I demand that this book be read […] Roy Jacobsen writes truthfully, tenderly and sharply about the everyday heroes of toil and care.'

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD, NORWAY

'Roy Jacobsen has written a beautiful and intense novel. […] poetic, virtuoso, warm and beautiful. […] No one describes the coastal and cultural history of the Helgeland coast as Roy Jacobsen.'

VG, NORWAY

Rights sold to: Azerbaijan (Qanun Publishing House), Bulgaria (Aviana), Canada (Biblioasis), China (Writers Publishing House), Czech Republic (Pistorius & Olšanská), Denmark (Rosinante & Co), Estonia (Eesti Raamat), Faroe Islands (Sprotin Forlag), Finland (Sitruuna kustannus Oy), France (Éditions Gallimard), Germany (C. H. Beck), Greece, Hungary (Scolar Kiado), Iceland (Forlagið), Israel (Keter Books), Italy (Iperborea), Lithuania (Lithuanian Writers’ Union Publishing House), Macedonia (Shkupi), Netherlands (Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij), Poland (Wydawnictwo Poznanskie sp. z o.o.), Portugal (Relógio D’Água Editores), Republic Of Korea (Fiftyone K. Inc. Zhan publishing), Slovenia (VBZ), Spain (Alianza Editorial, S.A.), Sweden (Norstedts), Syrian Arab Republic (Mamdouh), Turkey (Yapi Kredi Kültür Sanat Yay. Ticaret ve Sanayi A.S.), United Kingdom (MacLehose Press), Norway (Hålogoland Teater), Russia (Izdatelstvo Albus Korvus), Serbia (Darma Books)

DE USYNLIGE

HVITT HAV

RIGELS ØYNE

Erlend Loe GIÆVER AND IUNKER

Hey! Look at me when I’m talking! Are you writing this down? Are you ready? Are you recording? I’d like you to record and take notes at the same time. That way you’ll get everything. What isn’t said disappears. What is said disappears too, it just takes longer. Okay? Are you ready? Good.

I'm not telling you this for fun, I'm doing it for you, and for all Giævers be they alive, dead or yet to be born. You’re not writing! Pen to paper! There you go. Now I’ll begin.

My name is Giæver.

The valley where the Giævers live is shared with the Iunker-family who live on the neighbouring farm. But they are not very neighbourly, as the two families have been in conflict for over eight hundred years.

Old-Giæver is approaching the end of his life and spends his last days on earth informing Young-Giæver about their family history, about practical things like the mud stick, the pick-up, suet cakes, pillows, ships, women and obviously the conflict with the Iunker-family. Giæver doesn’t want to leave this life without ensuring customs and practices, knowledge, life wisdom and most importantly the hatred towards the Iunkers is continued by the next generation.

Erlend Loe is back in tip-top shape with his peculiar humour and sharp observations. Written like a monologue delivered by Old-Giæver, this is a gem of a book.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

‘Smart and cheeky from Erlend Loe … Giæver and Iunker is a rich source of cock-and-bull stories.’

BERGENS TIDENDE ✩

Erlend Loe (b. 1969) is one of Norway's bestselling authors. His work has been published in 41 territories so far. He made his literary debut with Captured by the Woman in 1993. His breakthrough both in Norway and internationally came with the publication of his second novel Naiv.Super in 1996. His 2004 novel Doppler was critically acclaimed for its depiction of the modern man and has become an international sucess. Erlend Loe also writes books for children and has had great success with the Kurt series.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Gyldendal)

Giæver og Iunker 120 x 180 mm / 160 pages

FULL ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF ECHOES OF THE CITY I AND II AVAILABLE

Lars Saabye Christensen

ECHOES OF THE CITY

Book 1: Maj and Ewald

Echoes of the City is a grand epic work by Lars Saabye Christensen, which centres around the Kristoffersen family in West Oslo just after the war. Ewald works in an advertisement bureau who are hired for the campaign of Oslo’s 900-years anniversary, while Maj gets involves with Red Cross. Their son Jesper promises his best friend Jostein to be his ears, after Jostein’s hearing is damaged in a traffic accident.

Put your ear to the conch and listen: Listen to the sound of Oslo. See the streets that bind it together, see the people who live in them.

‘On par with Stefan Zweig and Marcel Proust. [...] A stroke of genius. The Oslo trilogy is a human comedy that you chuckle your way through, until it hurts. On par with 'The World of Yesterday' and ‘In Search of Lost Time’’ POLITIKEN

Byens spor 130 x 205 mm / 448 pages

ECHOES OF THE CITY II: Book 2: Maj

ECHOES OF THE CITY IV: Book 4: Jesper and Trude

ECHOES OF THE CITY III: Book 3: The Shadow Book

Lars Saabye Christensen is one of Norway’s most beloved and prolific authors. Despite being known for his long novels, his debut book was the poetry collection History of Gly (1976), for which he was awarded the Tarjei Vesaas prize. His first novel, The Amateur, was published in 1977 and Saabye Christensen often says all his novels could’ve had this title. Humans who struggle with inner insecurities and lack of a directory of their own lives, who are not professionally well-prepared in all of life’s situations, but instead make wrong choices and appear clumsy – these are the people he has an ever-recurring love for in his books.

His big breakthrough novel was Beatles (1984), which is one of the bestselling literary titles in Norway ever and which new generations of youth keep falling in love with. In 2001 his epic major work The Half Brother was published, an extraordinarily generous and moving novel, which follows a family over a period of many years and through all stages of life. The Half Brother became an international success and won the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Between 2017 and 2021 the series Echoes of the City was published, which was met with exceptional criticism and reached a large readership. Saabye Christensen has written over 70 titles, won numerous prizes and awards, and has been translated into 36 languages.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Grif), Egypt (Al Kotob Kahn), Norway (Theatre rights), Poland (Wydawnictwo Literackie Sp. z.o.o.), UK (MacLehose Press) Czech Republic (Albatros Media / Kniha Zlin), Germany (btb Luchterhand)

Photo: Foto: Michal Piwnicki

Eivind Hofstad Evjemo THE NEW SEASON

The great new novel about Norway, love and life as a farmer, and moving into a new time

Hans Junior is a farmer at a dairy farm, which he runs with his father. The milk truck arrives. The grass grows and is harvested. Winters pass into spring. But when his father passes away, Junior ends up being responsible on his own. A single man in the house and a lot of animals in the barn. One day the agricultural inspector Sylvi stops by to inspect the farming and animal welfare. She gets a cup of coffee when she’s about to drive away, as well as an invite to return. Shortly after, she moves in.

The cows in the barn start changing their behaviour, the Sitka spruce between the farm and the sea grows tighter – the nature is changing in challenging ways, and Sylvi and Hans do what they can. Sylvi is affected by an unexplainable illness, and goes to their neighbour Siriporn, who and offers massages from a room at the farm. Siriporn and and her husband Johan’s property borders ancient monastery ruins, and Siriporn has big plans for alternative operations.

The New season is both realistic and apocalyptic. It is an ode to labour, and to the love that no one can see. It is the first book in a planned trilogy.

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO GIVE UP 'Beautiful and gripping about everyday heroism … a beautiful love story. … Eivind Hofstad Evjemo is an artist of language.'

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD ✩

Eivind Hofstad Evjemo (b. 1983) studied writing at Litterær Gestaltning in Gothenburg, Sweden. For his debut novel Wake me if I fall asleep from 2009 he won the Tarjei Vesaas’ First Writers Award. For his second novel, The last You will see is a face of Love from 2012 he recieved The Young Critics Prize, the UT-award and Writer of the year from Trøndelag County. The novel We Welcome You from 2014 received wonderful reviews. In 2015 he was listed as one of the ten best norwegian authors under 35, by weekly newspaper Morgenbladet and Norsk Litteraturfestival.

Rights sold to: France (Editions Grasset)

THE CURSE OF THE SITKA SPRUCE

'Hofstad Evjemo writes well. In a tactile manner. It smells strongly in the dairy building, the fireweed looms outside the windows. At the absence of rain, you can feel the thirst scrape your palate. […] It’s told in a lively manner, with drive in its sentences. […] it’s a joy to read The New Season.»

BOK365.NO ✩

PRACTICAL FARMING FOR THE APOCALYPSE

«… timeless picture of the apocalypse, which also hold mythical qualities. […] Some of these renderings are close to the striking horror which can be found in the novels of Cormac McCarthy, without ever losing the work and days of the farmer from sight.»

MORGENBLADET

A GEM OF A NOVEL

«The New Season is a highlight among this autumn’s titles, and will be remembered as one of the bestNorwegian novels of the year.»

ADRESSEAVISA ✩

Excerpt from The New Season:

The farmer waited for her in the yard. A regular, semi-tall man wearing a barn suit. Thin, dry hair which the wind created some movement in. He gave her a careful look, this uninvited guest – the inspector who had forced her way in. The golden-brown workers’ gloves which peeked out of his pockets made her think of tinder fungus (she had gone to Brekke the day before and stumbled upon an overturned tree trunk which a lot of such fungi). She had already noted that the farmyard was well-kept – nothing muddied or any broken equipment, no old boat motors in piles of rust, no potato boxes with calf carcasses – which in itself meant there was direction and plans for this farm. But she made sure to park her car flush with the exit and left her key in the ignition. The guidelines said two inspectors should attend inspections; one to do the talking with the farmer, one to collect the necessary information. Sylvi had maybe been silly when she came alone, but she brushed it off. Her colleague was sick, nothing to do about that. Sylvi lifted her camera – fully-charged battery – opened the door and went outside.

Are you Hans?

According to the papers he was thirty-eight-years-old, single. Had several times been awarded the Silver Cow award for deliveries of so-called “elite milk”. During previous inspections Hans Senior had mostly been the one to speak. The farmer’s father. That’s right, he said.

Then she said: I’m here for an unannounced inspection. She took a deep breath in and smiled, tried to read the man’s face and the little grimaces which appeared when the word inspection was pronounced, but he only turned slightly sideways, put one finger over one nostril and blew out (she had to be patient).

Kjersti Halvorsen I’M THE ONE WHO CAN HELP YOU

Psychologist Edvin works at the Kvervel Manor. He is engaged and soon to be a father for the first time. One day, he gets a new patient, André. Edvin knows him from his childhood but hesitates to tell his boss about their relationship. He is ashamed and unable to say more than ‘we went to school together’, which really doesn’t cover it. Edvin was bullied, and André was the bully. Now they have to deal with each other on a daily basis.

Why did André start taking drugs? Did Edvin have anything to do with what happened? Why was life so cruel to André but kind to Edvin? Or has life been kind to him?

Kjersti Halvorsen writes about complicated topics such as power, addiction, revenge and reconciliation in an entertaining way.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

‘A brilliant psychological thriller. […] There is no doubt that this overflows with literary quality.’

FRAMTIDA.NO

‘[…] this book has everything I want, and then some.’

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

‘Wow, Kjersti Halvorsen can surely create and write. Her second book does not disappoint. [...]’

Kjersti Halvorsen (b. 1993) grew up in Lier. She has attended author-studies at the college in Bø and studied psychology at the University of Oslo. She made her debut in 2019 with the novel Ida Takes Charge, a book that earned her a nomination to the Tarjei Vesaas debut prize.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Straarup & co), Sold to Norway (TV-rights, Anagram Norge)

Kjersti Halvorsen IDA TAKES CHARGE

Ida's greatest fear is terror. This doesn't get any better when she meets Aksel at University; a lone wolf with dubious interest in weapons. Aksel has become an outsider, and Ida needs to take drastic measures: How can she prevent disaster, and save Axel. Perhaps equally important: How can she save herself?

Ida Takes Charge is a dark and funny debut novel about overcoming fear and finding your calling in life.

NOMINATED FOR THE TARJEI VESAAS' DEBUT PRIZE 2019

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

‘Brilliant language … precise and observant. […] The novel explores, among other things, what can create a breeding ground for lonliness and xenopholia in young men, which allows them to end up as misogynists, despisers of society, or school shooters. It is well portayed, and you have to confront yourself while reading.’

DAG OG TID

‘This book is a gem, in many ways a mystery novel. Halvorsen writes with a razor sharp edge.’

DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV

Ida tar ansvar 130 x 205 mm / 224 pages

Selma Lønning Aarø RIGHT TO PRIVACY

An author wakes up in hospital. Something dramatic has happened –she just can’t quite remember what. What she can recall, however, is what happened before.

When the author moves to Fredrikstad from Oslo with her family, she finds new friends, a new life and what she hopes will be the starting-point for a new novel. Her new girlfriend X has given her permission to write whatever she wants about what they describe as a major issue that has marked X’s life. It looks set to be the author’s best novel ever, but X gradually becomes increasingly unstable and intimidating, and the author realises that her entire writing project is in jeopardy. The same goes for her artistic freedom, her finances, her relationship to her publisher and colleagues – not to mention the relationships in her own family. What can an author allow herself, and who really owns a story?

Selma Lønning Aarø’s new novel is funny, sometimes frightening and unusually topical. A continuation of a strong feminist tradition, it also comments on the debate about reality literature.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE.

'THIS FALL'S FUNNIEST NOVEL' ADRESSEAVISA 

FUNNY AND SHARP-WITTED

'What is the ethical responsibility of an author? […] Right to Privacy goes straight to the heart of this problem in a way that is both funny and thought-provoking.' AFTENPOSTEN

NORLA SELECTED TITLE AUTUMN 2021

Selma Lønning Aarø (b. 1972) made her debut in 1995 with The Final story. She has been a newspaper columnist for Dagbladet and Klassekampen for a number of years. Her novel, I'm Coming, was translated into several languages. Her Lying Face is praised by critics and readers. Right to Privacy is her latest novel.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Straarup & co), France (Gallimard)

Excerpt from Right to Privacy

To my surprise, the pain X spoke of made the same holes in me as Mum’s pain once had. I’d tried to fill them in, these holes. I’d filled them in with travel and childbirth, with fun and frivolity, but as X spoke, each of these holes seemed to open up again, as if a plaster had been ripped off a wound. As X spoke, I was reduced to the same powerlessness I had experienced as a child. I felt the same anger I had felt as a child. X, who could fix pretty much anything, X, who went with the flow and did exactly what she felt like all the time, could not fix this. She was powerless and I didn’t want X to be powerless, just as I hadn’t wanted Mum to be either when I was younger. If I was meant to write anything at all, this was it. It was a peculiar feeling and when I left X that evening, I did the only thing I could do.

I went home across the bridge with the ever-present wind in my hair. My head grew cold and clear. I crept into my house and up the stairs and started to write.

Maratonshots

130 x 205 mm / 96 pages

Geir Nummedal MARATHON SHOTS

A man in the middle of his life is preparing for his first marathon in Dresden, but ends up going all in the night. Still, he receives a starting number and begins running. In Marathon shots we follow a 42195-metre-long race with many associative digressions along the way. With music in his ears the rhythm of the race propagates through both in his body and mind, where the stream of consciousness of the marathon runner becomes its own race within a race. Before he reached the end line, he has also run through his life.

He passes the parks of Dresden, crosses bridges, sees a bald man running with a pineapple attached to his head, he takes shots from drinking stations that often miss his mouth, instead splashing on his shirt or the ground. The experience of running mixes with the experiences of life, from erotic fantasies to childhood memories, glimpses of his father at work in the welding hall, the letters his father sent home from a worktrip to China.

The author Dag Solstad has stated that joggers are outside walking their fear of death, which is very possible. The narrator of Geir Nummedal’s Marathon shots isn’t scared of walking his fear of death, walking his rooms of remembrance, which has resulted in this particularly lively read.

Geir Nummedal (b. 1972) published his first book She's there all the time in 2012. Since then he has written a short story collection, Having Children (2012), a book single, Running text (2020) and the novel Marathon shots (2023).

Nils Horvei OSLO

The narrator of Oslo feels like he’s about to become a stranger to the city he’s lived in his whole adult life. After spending many years in Majorstua he and his wife move to Nydalen so that they can afford to buy a cabin on the coast. In his new neighbourhood he loses his footing, he doesn’t understand what kind of place he’s moved to. One day he’s run over by an electric scooter right outside a shopping centre. That’s after he’s just seen his doppelganger who he believed to be dead.

The story in this novel moves between the present and 1978 – the year his doppelganger Tom Finne disappeared without a trace. In the present the narrator fights to be able to keep living in the city which has become such an important part of his identity. He lives with the crumbs of a social life with boring pub quizzes and poker with some questionable types from the East End, while mourning no longer being part of the wine club in West Oslo. Gradually he seems to realise that the Oslo he thought he lived in, no longer exists.

Oslo 130 x 205 mm

Nils Gullak Horvei (b. 1956) has a cand.mag. degree from the university and is also a trained nurse. He works as a headhunter in the culture and media business. In addition, he is a night nurse in a home for mentally handicapped.

Arild Stavrum

LAST MAN ON HIS BACK

Albert is 20 years old and works at the dock, but when he’s not working, he is practicing wrestling. All the time. He lives in a small, worn house with his mum and two younger brothers. He’s never known his father. The year is 1936. In Europe something is brewing. The dock is bustling. Most people are working with the cuttlefish, some aren’t as lucky and have to make a living making moonshine alcohol.

Albert only has one competitor in his own town: Johnny Wiik, a rich boy who’s also his boss at the dock. When they were children, they used to play together, now they fight together. Competing for a spot in the Olympic squad. And it’s not just any old Olympic Games we’re talking about, it’s the Olympic Summer Games in Berlin, where Hitler himself will be in the stands.

Arild Stavrum writes about sport and exercise, about two men on the mat, in such a way that we can smell the action, notice the muscles tensing, the bodies being thrown around, the sweat that flows, and the test of strength that costs everything.

Last Man on His Back is a different and entertaining historical novel which amongst other things poses the eternal question: Is it right for a young man to give everything he has got to what he loves, to want to become the best in the world, without any monetary profit in sight, when he has a family at home relying on him?

Arild Stavrum (b. 1972) is a former professional football player and football coach. In 2008 he made his debut as a writer with the novel 31 years on the field. Since then he has written multiple books in many genres, and has been translated into Danish and English.

Siste mann på rygg 130 x 205 mm / 320 pages

Saenger DEAR BROTHER, LITTLE SISTER

Lucie and Kristoffer have grown up together, but they are not biological siblings. They were both foster children in an extremely religious home and have always had a special relationship. On summer holiday with two friends and Kristoffer’s girlfriend Amanda a worrying situation unfolds. Flashbacks to their teenage years tell the story of how an “illegal” sexual tension builds up between Lucia and Kristoffer, and in the present Kristoffer wobbles between his foster sister and his girlfriend. He resists it but is nonetheless pulled to Lucie again and again, she seems to have a magnetic power over him.

Is the relationship between the foster siblings natural, or is it in fact problematic in the way their surroundings seem to signalise? Is it mostly harmful because those around them say it is?

This is an uncomfortable novel propelled forward by a strong drive and a sharp look at taboo relationships.

Sophia Saenger (b. 1989) grew up in Oslo and now lives in Drammen. She has a master’s degree in history of religions from the University of Oslo. She made her debut in 2022 with the novel Nothing Here Belongs to Me

Sophia

Kjære bror, lille søster 130 x 205 mm

AFTENPOSTEN  STAVANGEN AFTENBLAD

Kristian Klausen FROM A RUSSIAN TYPEWRITER

The KGB agent Mikhail Alekhin arrives in Drammen in 1971 looking for a Soviet dissident author who has gone underground. Mikhail’s mission is to carry out an assassination. In Drammen he gets to know Dordi Normann. Dordi also acts as a carer and assistant for their old father Willem – a visual artist who is defying advanced Alzheimer’s to keep painting. After meeting Dordi and Willem and seeing their dedication to art, Mikhail Alekhin becomes plagued by ideological doubts and feelings of guilt.

How will Mikhail, a Russian who’s more than used to propaganda and cultural alignment in a communist dictatorship, react to the radical political awakening which began to make waves in Norway at the time? What kind of cultural expression would he meet here? And can a human, driven by a sense of duty and loyalty, work in surveillance without causing damage to their soul?

Kristian Klausen (b. 1971) has been a freelance writer and art instructor, and currently works as an environmental therapist with a psychiatric hospice. He made his literary début in 2008 with his critically acclaimed short story collection Måltidet i Emmaus

Fra en russisk skrivemaskin 130 x 205 mm / 160 pages

'Counterfactual fable provides a highly topical image of Russian surveillance culture.'

Frederik Svindland ANIMAL HAPPINESS

After being kicked out of school, the narrator starts attending a new school in the town, where he gets new classmates and ends up part of an environment which broadens his world in all directions. Some of these friends are pretty fearless, but none as much as Sal, his old friend who also attends this school.

In the same vein of his previous books in the trilogy, Animal Happiness is a lyrical novel, propelled forward by the language, the pictorial texts are painted with at times absurd precision, full of fresh observations about friendship, insecurity and belonging. But it’s also about graffiti. And about cows.

With Animal Happiness Frederik Svindland finishes his critically acclaimed trilogy of novels offering an insight into the author’s upbringing, family, and social circle. The first novel in the series, Pelargonia, got Svinland nominated to Tarjei Vasaas’s Debut Prize, and the second novel English Fog followed in 2018.'

‘Svindland enriches the realm of books with literary sensibility, transforming the private nostalgia into a general expression of how our childhood never stops working inside us.’

KLASSEKAMPEN, ON PELARGONIA

‘Congratulation to Frederik Svindland for being the best debut writer of 2016’ MORGENBLADET, ON PELARGONIA

‘… the follow-up English Fog shows a language and literary talent out of the ordinary. […] With these two short and thorough novels Svindland will be acknowledged as a different voice in contemporary literature. Svindland does not yell loudly, but sees clearly, and he can describe a sunset with stunning beauty.’

DAG OG TID, ON ENGLISH FOG

Frederik Svindland (b. 1985) grew up in Porsgrunn. He has studied at the School of Creative Writing in Bø. He made his debut with the novel Pelargona in 2016, which he was nominated to the Tarjei Vesaas First Writers Award for. In 2017 he was awarded the Saabye Christensen Grant.

Dyrenes lykke 130 x 205 mm / 112 pages

Someone else’s hands are washing me in the morning, doing my make-up, lifting my hair up and tying it in a bun. I am watching someone touch someone else’s body but can feel the touch on my own.

A lecture at the university discusses the possibility of freezing the brain of people who have died, with the idea to wait for the technology which allows them to bring the brain back to life in a new body. Kim volunteers, without further consideration. Suddenly she wakes up in the future. The technology they have been waiting for now exists, but the programme is shut down due to concerns that it is unethical. Kim is one of very few so-called chimeras.

Kim was a committed student with a future at a Greenpeace arrangement in Antarctica, but the life she used to live belongs to the past and she accepts a job as a maid at a hotel. After a while her memory starts to fail, and large parts of her life disappear from her. She begins to seek refuge in the world of games, and her avatar gradually becomes a larger part of the life Kim believes to be living.

The Chimera Awakens addresses popular culture and the role of modern technology and its influence on our lives.

Lina-Marie Ulvestad Halås (b. 1991) is born and raised in Eide, but lives in Oslo. She has a Bachelor in Nordic languages and literature from the University of Oslo, and has studied writing. Her debut Randhav was published in 2019.

Lina-Marie Ulvestad Halås THE CHIMERA AWAKENS

Kimæren våkner 130 x 205 mm / 192 pages

Tor Åge Bringsværd HOLY MACKEREL

847 people is hit by a mysterious illness, and they all see a huge mackerel hovering over the square. Everyone infected by the so-called Mackerel syndrome are from the same quarter of the city, and they appear to live in two different worlds. The therapists sent to speak with them can interact as usual, but they are also surrounded by other creatures – invisible to everyone else but themselves. Amongst the 847 people is Silas. Everyone who knows him says he is an 'especially interesting case'. He can speak to the dead. Or are they really dead?

The infected quarter is blocked with lazer barbed wire, while the rest of the society try to figure out the cause of the illness. What will the future be, for the sick and for the seemingly healhty people? Which of the realities will prevail in the end?

Holy Mackerel is an entertaining, wise and imaginative science-fiction novel, by Norway's most influential author of fable prose.

Tor Åge Bringsværd (b. 1939) has received many awards, as a writer and as a playwright. His works have been translated into 23 languages and his theatrical works have been staged in twelve countries. Bringsværd writes for all ages.

Den himmelske makrell 130 x 205 mm / 192 pages

Nilsen CURSE OF THE SMALL TOWN

Curse of the small town is a “Nordic gothic”-novel inspired by the American Southern Gothic genre, which takes place in Berlevåg in Finnmark. Here the midnight sun shines all day and night, and they’re approaching polar nights, which always affects moods, and the snow which lights up the landscape.

Tonje gets a job at Agnes Hansen’s newly established astrology phoneline. Slowly, but surely, Tonje and the other inhabitants are drawn into a psychological game where the difference between fantasy and reality is washed away.

Curse of the small town shows us a world where things may not be exactly as they seem at first glance.

Gro Jørstad

Det lille steds forbannelse 130 x 205 mm / 256 pages

Gro Jørstad Nilsen (b. 1967) is a literary critic and an author. Curse of the small town is her second novel.

Eskil Skjeldal THE FUNERAL HOME

Olav runs a funeral home in a relatively small place in Northern Norway, which he’s been doing for more than fifteen years. Every corpse in the area ends up with him. Olav is single, tidy, honest, and professional. When meeting grieving people there are two pitfalls, Olav believes, and somewhere between these two pitfalls is where the ideal approach lies. The same is true for people’s emotional lives: when dealing with strong emotions you can be either too warm or too cold.

Olav’s neighbour, Per, disappears at sea. The boat shows up empty, and it affects Olav in a way he is not used to. When someone else he knows, Markus, dies of a cardiac arrest way too young, the tears come. It bothers Olav, and it’s as if something is coming loose inside him.

The Funeral Home reflects on several exercises of grief, not least that of the owner of a funeral home. How can one be human when confronted with death, and remain standing tall?

‘Masterly visual depictions … The Funeral Home is linguistically beautiful in its combination of precise and poetic renderings … a most readable novel on many grounds.’

VÅRT LAND

Eskil Skjeldal (b. 1974) has previously published several non-fiction books. Father’s Garden, Mother’s House is his first work of fiction, and came out in 2023.

Byrået 130 x 205 mm / 208 pages

Erling Simon Vaaler (debutant) THE NARCISISST

Jim’s grandma is dying, and he has to clean the empty house. This process puts him in touch with a childhood that wasn’t necessarily happy, and which made him, despite his talent, quit playing music, the thing he loved the most, when he was 15 years old. His childhood is well documented by his father, an internationally recognised photo artist. His father’s pictures of Jim as a child shows Jim and his older brother, Aksel, in scenes characterised by jealousy and fighting over their father’s favour. Jim’s artistic gifts made him and his father very close, but the weeks alone in his grandma’s house leads Jim to find signs of how his father’s actions poisoned his relationship with his older brother.

Narsissisten

130 x 205 mm

Helene Alice Nortvedt (debutant) RED DANGER

Evy is 27 years old, an age where many have managed to establish themselves and sorted out their lives, but she’s only managed to isolate herself from others. Something pulls her back to her teenage years when her mother’s relationship with Rune broke down. Evy hasn’t seen Rune in 15 years. Rune with the golden, wavy hair, brown leather jacket and red shoes with white laces. At least that’s what he looks like in her memories. Is she romanticising him? Rune has another family now, and Evy knows where he lives. Several times she goes to his house and sees the lights on through the windows. One day she gets in touch with Rune. It doesn’t turn out the way she imagined. But what did she imagine?

Røde fare

130 x 205 mm / 192 pages

Helene Alice Nortvedt (b. 1990) is born and raised in Oslo. She’s studied Writing at Westerdals in Oslo and is finishing a master’s degree in Literary Form at Gothenburg University. Red Danger is her first novel.

Erling Simon Vaaler (b. 1990, lives in Trondheim, Norway) has a degree in philosophy from NTNU. He’s also studied at the Creative Writing Course in Tromsø. The Narcissist is his debut novel.

Nadine

EVA/IDA

Eva/Ida is a novel about a relationship between two women in their early 20s. The story is told from Ida’s perspective, an insecure, introverted girl from the countryside as well as an ambitious biology student. Eva is an extroverted, self-absorbed, ambitious, sloppy and hedonistic bisexual student of Art Direction. Eva and Ida play tennis, go to parties, fall asleep in other people’s gardens, go to Risør to fish for crabs, move in together, and try to navigate their lives around a power balance that’s constantly being challenged by one another’s ambition and competitive instincts. Ida also has a mental disorder she struggles with, which gets in the way of her goals, her plans and her relationship with Eva.

Cornelius

MURMUR

Lyder Alving buys a flat to live in with Rebecca. But shortly after Lyder realises he isn’t able to live with Rebecca and he impulsively moves out. At a funeral a few months later, he meets the more stable Hedvig, and a quiet love triangle unfolds. Lyder is stuck between Rebecca’s turbulent lifestyle, and the monotone, continuous existence of Hedvig.

Murmur depicts how the day to day can look like with bipolar disorder. Instead of focusing on the extremities, the author puts the focus on the thoughts that arrive alongside the mood swings, and the constant doubt regarding which life you’re supposed to be living: A life full of mood swings, or the stable life that society appears to demand.

Mackell (debutant)

Nadine Mackell (b. 1990) has studied writing, and works with pedagogy and innovation in a dementia village. Eva/Ida is her debut novel.

Cornelius C. Steinkjer (b. 1998) is born and raised in Oslo. He is a journalist. Murmur is his debut novel.

Steinkjer (debutant)

Eva/Ida 130 x 205 mm

Sorl 130 x 205 mm

Brynjulf Jung Tjønn WHITE NORWEGIAN MAN

White Norwegian Man is a touching and important book about a subject many experience every day – namely racism. In this poetry collection the author Brynjulf Jung Tjønn depicts his own experiences of racism.

Brynjulf Jung Tjønn was adopted from South Korea to Norway as a child and has always noticed that he looks different, as he puts it himself. With the pandemic – and the awareness around racism and Asian hate – he got new and painful perspectives about his own background and upbringing.

White Norwegian Man is about Norway and the racism many ignore, both the hidden type and the visible one. And not to mention the lonely human who hopes for understanding and finding somewhere to feel at home.

NORWAY'S BESTSELLING POETRY COLLECTION IN 2022

‘What a clenched fist of a book this is! …. Among the most powerful things I’ve read. Everyone should read it.’

VG, 

‘A gripping poetry collection about racism. … a tragic seriousness, often wrapped in witty turns of phrase. … I would recommend it to any young adult and up, but also for use in anti-racist work and in classrooms.’

FRAMTIDA, 

‘Poetic protest against racism. … one poem in particular is so compelling and gripping I think it will remain forever in Norwegian literature … a wistful, vital and necessary contribution to contemporary literature.’

AFTENPOSTEN

Rights sold to: Denmark (Straarup & co), France (Gallimard)

if only i had had blonde hair if only i had had blue or green eyes if only i had been a white norwegian man

what kind of problems would i have had then?

i have thought about this every single day ever since i was little and stood in the mirror and wondered why i had such yellow skin why my hair was so black why my eyes were so narrow why i didn’t look like anyone i went to school with didn’t look like my cousins didn’t look like my parents why should i among five million norwegians look like i am chinese?

Brynjulf Jung Tjønn (b. 1980) made his literary debut with the novel I came to love in 2002. He has since published a number of books for both children and adults. His novel for Young Adults, You are so Beautiful, won the Brage Prize in 2013.

Linn Strømsborg NEVER, EVER, EVER

«I am 35 years old. I do not want children.

It’s not something I talk to other people about. It is something that I am ashamed of, a topic I avoid; take long verbal detours around. When my friends talk about having kids, I change the topic. I do not want to be too certain or unbending, because I might suddenly wake up one day and find that I have become one of them, an ordinary woman in her thirthies wanting to get pregnant, wanting a family, wanting to expand my life, my body and my heart to make room for more than myself. You are allowed to change your mind.»

The main character in Linn Strømsborg´s novel Never, ever, ever has never wanted children. She has been living with Philip for eight years, and they have agreed to not have children – up until now. Because maybe Philip might want to become a dad after all? And while her two best friends are expecting their first child, and her mother is constantly nagging about grandchildren, and her everyday life is full of parents with toddlers and births and the struggle of others to have enough time for it all, she is firm in her life and her choice about not having children.

Never, ever, ever is a novel about why we have children, and why we do not have children. It is the story about choosing something other than what is expected of you, but at the same time wanting a normal life.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

‘The story is elegantly composed, at times cinematic. Strømsborg has written rare and energized prose about a timely and somewhat taboo topic.’ VG

Linn Strømsborg (b. 1986) made her debut 2009 with the novel Roskilde, the story of a group of young people at a music festival, and followed up with the chap book The Øya Festival in the same year. She has since written two novels about the main character Eva; Furuset in 2012 and You're not gonna die in 2016. She is one of the most interesting young voices in contemporary Norwegian fiction today.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Turbine), Serbia (Cigoja Stampa), Germany (DuMont), Poland (ArtRage Sp.), Germany (Olga film), Hungary (Libertine)

Aldri, aldri, aldri 130x205 mm / 224 pages

Linn Strømsborg DAMN, DAMN, DAMN

Britt is angry. She’s angry because she isn’t living a different life. And she’s angry because she doesn’t want to live a different life. She’s just yelled at her daughter, her husband and all their friends. Which deep down are really his friends. And it felt good.

Nico is on the surface the opposite of Britt. Not angry. Not worn down by commitments. Not established. No family. Despite this she is loving Britt’s anger.

Damn, Damn, Damn is about the expectations a woman can allow herself to have for life, and the limitations for the same thing which are still deeply interwoven into our culture. Being angry is much overdue. So is tearing things down. And building new things.

Rights sold to: Poland (ArtRage Sp.)

Faen, Faen, Faen 130 x 205 mm

Louise Jacobs VIA FLORENTIN

Via Florentin is an absurd and sensuous novel full of intimate confrontations on the performing stage of love and art, and what follows of ambitions, narcissism, ecstasy, misunderstandings, and exaggerations.

Louise Jacobs (b. 1987) has studied visual arst in Städelschule in Frankfurt, Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and Art Academy in Oslo, and studied modern dance in New York. She works with performace, text and meta cultural femininity. Via Florentin is her first novel.

Olav Reisop WE WILL BE KNOWN FOREVER BY THE TRACKS WE LEAVE

What happens if someone attacks your best friend or someone else you love? What wouldn’t you do to defend that person? And what if your best friend is the nature? What do you think is acceptable to do in an attempt to stop the escalating violence against nature? Sit-in protests? Signature collections? Mass murder? Can one go too far? Should the defenders be stopped or protected?

In author Olav Løkken Reisop’s We will be known forever by the tracks we leave someone is about to put their foot down on behalf of nature. But who? At the same time there is a mysterious fog which spreads throughout the forest and the birds are getting sick and animals and humans are acting more and more unusual. What is really happening to the world?

Via Florentin 130 x 205 mm / 96 pages

Olav Løkken Reisop (b. 1980) debuted in 2011 with the book Pastisj. He is a trained architect and literary scholar, and writes literary criticism for Dagbladet.

Skriverholmer 130 x 205 mm

Ida Marie Haugen Gilbert

HOWLING WITH WOLVES

Aslaug has a more or less meaningful job as a communications manager in the idealistic organisation Future with Vision. Nonetheless her job fills her with a constantly increasing lack of desire and irritation – to the extent that the highlight of her week is cake for lunch every Wednesday. The displeasure becomes acute when the hundred percent politically correct Karen-Britt is hired and assigned an office space to the left of Aslaug in the open office landscape. A mental bomb is about to go off – in the very near future.

Howling with Wolves is a novel which makes fun of both city and village, which surely is allowed.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

«The text takes hold from the first page, and effortlessly holds the reader's interest through three quite different parts. [...] I'm already looking forward to the next book from this author.»

ADRESSEAVISEN ✩

«In Howling with Wolves, Ida Gilberts delightful debut novel, these opposites [the city v. the country village, the elite v. normal people] are dressed in particularly caricatured clothes [...] it is very witty [...] Gilbert writes with humor and a talent for cricature.»

KLASSEKAMPEN

Tute med de ulver som er ute 130 x 205 mm / 160 pages

Ida Marie Haugen Gilbert (b. 1981) is a philosopher, writer and communication advisor in Oslo.

Morten Langeland NAILS IN MOURNING

After what was supposed to be a short get-together by the river before dusk, two good friends manage to bring home a freshly caught salmon by a funny coincidence. They have no other choice but to prepare the salmon on a whim and spontaneously invite a bunch of people over for dinner. The invitation is quite random and widely spread, on a firstcome, first-served basis which will set the tone for the rest of the night.

Nails in Mourning is a novel in which a large and spawning mature salmon not only forms the economic basis for the story, but also in a way forms the value basis for the way the text develops.

Sørgerender 130 x 205 mm / 120 pages

'To belong or to fall behind, to live or to exist, to be included or to be in a 'condition of secrecy'– thats's what this weird, demanding and yet deeply captivating novel is about.'

FÆDELANDSVENNEN 

A LITERARY FEAST

'The wordstream Nails in mourning is rich and satisfying. I reccomend grabbing a slice.'

VÅRT LAND

Morten Langeland FIFTY/FIFTY

Morten Langeland’s new novel Fifty/ Fifty is about an author who sits in the library of the new National Museum, struggling to write an essay about the typical Norwegian kindness in Tarjei Vesaas’ authorship. During a break in his work he becomes aware of a skater who repeatedly, over several days, tries to pull off a 50/50 – grind down the rail outside the museum.

The novel is about rehab, about not giving up and about self-care through the love for others.

'If you dislike Jan Erik Vold, Dag Solstad, Norman Mailer or J.D. Salinger, you’ll hate Morten Langeland.'

MORGENBLADET

'... I'm no longer just convinced that this is a great novel. I'm also moved, touched, and happy to have parttaken in this work of art. I'll carry this book inside me for a long time.'

FÆDELANDSVENNEN

Morten Langeland (b. 1986) had his debut in 2012. In 2016 he was awarded the Stig Sæterbakken Memorial Award for promising young writers.

Fifty/Fifty 130 x 205 mm / 264 pages

Makta 130 x 205 mm / 144 pages

Heidi Furre THE POWER

‘Quite often I can tell by just looking at a person. I don't know exactly how I can tell, it´s something fleeting. It lives in the face. It´s in the skin, around the mouth, in the eyes. Some women carry pain in their face. It´s hard to get a grip on it, it easily slips away. It is despite of youth, despite of beauty. I have seen it in others since I was a child, before I could tell what it was. I have seen it in children. I have seen it in old women. Some days I have seen it in myself. In my pores, the tone of my skin, the lines. If I am not careful it comes pouring out.’

Liv is a nurse. She takes good care of herself and others. She is a normal person hiding a normal secret. One night, many years ago, she was raped. By a man she willingly followed home.

The Power is a novel about power, but also a book about having the power. The power to move on.

‘The Power is a concrete story about Liv’s experiences, and a story about how many women feel every time they step out of the bus on their way home late at night, having to walk the last stretch alone in the dark.’

MORGENBLADET

‘On point about trauma relief … In Heidi Furre’s hard-hitting novel The Power, a mother tries to take back control over her own life. … What has happened cannot be undone. Nor will this borderline rape end up in court. But Heidi Furre has found another form of relief through her accurate formulations. Formulations that will hit home with the reader.’

NRK

Heidi Furre (b. 1986) made her debut 2013 with the novel The Paris Syndrome, to critical acclaim. She has since written two more novels. In addition to her writing, Heidi spends the majority of her time working as a photographer.

Rights sold to: Germany (DuMont)

Lotta Elstad I REFUSE TO THINK

I Refuse to Think has much of the same sharp and smart humour as Lotta Elstad's earlier books.

We meet Hedda Møller after a traumatic plane landing and hazardous journey back to Oslo, through a Europe in crisis, on buses and trains, dirty hostel rooms and a one-night stand in Berlin that will not stop sending her messages in CAPS LOCK. Back home she discovers that she is unwantedly pregnant. That should be an easily solved problem. It´s not.

I Refuse to Think is a dark, feministic contemporary comedy about politics, love – and an abyss that is getting dangerously closer.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

‘A feminist direct hit!’

‘Lotta Elstads energy, wittiness and precision makes I Refuse to Think to one of this year's most enjoyable reads. Within its comical genre, it is absolutely perfect; stimulating, exciting, funny, sharp – and somewhat dark.’

FÆDRELANDSVENNEN

‘Lotta Elstad has written a novel that is funny, even if it is political. Elstad writes with energy and good timing. The suspense lasts until the last chapter.’

DAGSAVISEN

‘Lotta Elstad creates observing and fresh comedy out of the unwanted pregnancy of a freelancer. There has not been a lot of room for the easy going in Norwegian contemporary literature. Lotta Elstad clears the space for this kind of writing. That is why it is so easy to let yourself be excited by her novels.’

MORGENBLADET

Lotta Elstad (b. 1982) is a writer, journalist, historian and non-fiction editor. She has since her debut in 2008 published several acclaimed books, both narrative non-fiction and novels.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Hoff & Poulsen), France (Marabout), Germany (Kiepenheuer & Witsch), Netherlands (Uitgeverij Prometheus), Romania (Casa Cartii), Poland (Wydawnictwo Pauza), Polen (Pauza)

Jeg nekter å tenke 130x205 mm / 240 pages

Fiske

THE SEA, I ALWAYS COME BACK TO YOU

The sea, I always come back to you is a book about a place where one can feel at home, feel oneself, a place to daydream to when the world is knocking on the door or thoughts become too large. A place in which to be filled with joy and happiness, and just be. It is also the story of a mother-daughter relationship, from childhood to adulthood.

Anna Fiske (b. 1964) is an author, illustrator, and cartoonist. Fiske’s playful and distinctive style, both literary and pictorial, has earned her numerous awards and honours for her works. Several of her books have been published with great success in many countries.

Anna

Havet, deg jeg alltid kommer tilbake til 130 x 205 mm / 144 pages

Anna Fiske TREES I HAVE KNOWN

The chestnut tree in the courtyard: tall, hard, proud; the birch tree with long swinging arms, the weeping willow, and the tree with a trunk black as coal – these are some of the trees in Anna Fiske's life. And then there are all the pine trees: in the childhood garden, by the sea where they are shaped by salty breeze, in the mountains, in the garden in the new country – it’s important to always have a pine tree in one’s life.

In this picture book for adult readers' enchanting interaction between memories in drawings and in poetical texts, Anna Fiske has created her own genre.

Trær jeg har møtt 130 x 205 mm120 pages

Jorid Mathiassen WHERE THE WHITE LILIES GROW

Hjartøy, Nordland, 2009: Linnea needs to get out of Oslo after a relationship ends. She accepts her friend Iris’ offer to stay in the old house that had once belonged to her great-aunt Marie.

Linnea knows nothing of what awaits her when she arrives in Hjartøy in the middle of winter, and the challenges are unending. One day, she finds a small clock that puts her on the trail of a dramatic story from World War II.

Rynes, Nordland, 1942: A young girl named Marie is wrenched away from her safe life on Hjartøy when her older sister needs help. Her sister is married and lives on a farm in Rynes some miles to the north.

Right next to the farm is a German prison camp where Serbian soldiers are living in terrible conditions. But in the midst of all the atrocities, love blossoms when Marie meets a young prisoner named Jovan. They both know it could mean death if their relationship is revealed, and Jovan decides to flee to Sweden. This proves to have dramatic consequences.

As Linnea finds out more and more about Marie, her own life also takes a new turn.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

Jorid Mathiassen (b. 1965) grew up on the Helgeland coast up north, and now lives in Oslo. She has a major in Nordic language and literature from the University of Oslo and has the last ten years worked as a publishing editor at Cappelen Damm, and currently at Bonnier. Prior to being a publishing editor, she worked as a journalist in the magazine Bok & samfunn. Where the White Lilies Grow is her debut novel.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Alpha forlag), Germany (Suhrkamp verlag)

Der hvite liljer vokser 130 x 205 mm / 280 pages

Excerpt from Where White Lilies Grow

As soon as Marie finished washing the cups, she snuck out and started running toward the river. They’d heard shots coming from the camp earlier in the day, and she could hear the voice in her head saying it was more dangerous than ever to be wandering around outside, that the guards were being more watchful and that she was putting herself, the others in the house, and Jovan – if he was still alive – in even greater danger. Still, she ran and ran until she could taste blood.

She stopped as she approached their hiding place and slowly crept forward, looking around cautiously. The thought of the hateful face of the Norwegian guard who’d stopped her the first time still frightened her. She held her breath in total silence. Her heart was pounding and she closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them again, she saw the top of his head sticking out of the pit he’d made for them that was almost completely covered with branches. She let out her breath again and the relief flowed through her whole body like a waterfall.

130

205 mm

336 pages

Kjersti Herland Johnsen CHRISTMAS AT THE MOUNTAIN VIEW HOTEL

The well-known mountain climber and expedition leader Ingrid Berg has returned home to take over the management of Mountain View Hotel, which her family has run for generations. Ingrid’s grandmother is stepping down, and with Christmas approaching, the traditional climbing hotel is awaiting many guests. Ingrid can feel the pressure. Soon enough, complications arise, and it can almost feel like someone out there doesn’t want her to succeed – but why? Is her celebrity ex-boyfriend the one to blame? Or could it have something to do with local big shot Hallgrim Dalen, and his old grudge with Ingrid’s grandmother? While ensuring an unforgettable Christmas for the guests of Mountain View Hotel, Ingrid must get to the bottom of the mystery. Luckily, she has dear friends, an eclectic staff, and lovely holiday guests to aid her. Not to mention her childhood friend, Tor …

The ultimate feelgood Christmas read, with romance, family, traditions and an old mystery, all set in a picturesque Norwegian winter in the mountains.

JENNY COLGAN, AUTHOR OF MEET ME AT THE CUPCAKE CAFÉ AND LITTLE BEACH STREET BAKERY

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

Kjersti Herland Johnsen has a degree in History from the University of Bergen and has worked in the Norwegian publishing industry since 1998. She lives in Oslo with her family. Christmas at Himmelfjell Hotel is her second novel.

Rights sold to: United States (HarperVia), Denmark (Turbine)

«A breath of lovely mountain air of a book: so delightful and charming!»

Jul på Himmelfjell hotell

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/

Kjersti Herland Johnsen CHRISTMAS LETTER

Linda has always had sole care for her son Brage, and she's worked hard to ensure that he had a safer and better childhood than she herself had. As Christmas approaches, traditions and rituals become very important to Linda. She's planned everything carefully, so that Brage will experience the perfect Christmas! But then, out of the blue, Brage's father appears and wants to take his son on a cruise in the Caribbean. Then mysterical letters appear in Linda's mail box, from someone she doesn't know but who seems to know her. December suddenly becomes filled with chaos and concern, and difficult memories from her past arises. But help may appear from somewhere she didn't expect... A Christmas where nothing happens as planned could still turn out perfect.

Christmas letter is a book full of friendship, romance, music, motherhood, life and death and Norwegian Christmas traditions. The book has 24 chapters, a chapter for each day from 1st to 24th of December, and can be read as an advent calendar.

'Has all the elements of a good feel good [... and] the most Christmas spirit of the books I've read. Johnsen writes with credibility of a reality that many readers will recognise. Here is sledding, mulled wine, Christmas presents, saffron rolls, and advent calendars. [...] Johnsen guards the mystery well and knows exactly when to reveal the different plot details. The story alters between the warm and cozy, to the more serious topics. The characters are believable, and the dialogue is alive and good.'

Kjersti Herland Johnsen has a degree in History from the University of Bergen and has worked in the Norwegian publishing industry since 1998. She lives in Oslo with her family.

Julebrev 130 x 200 mm / 288 pages

Adventskalenderen 130 x 205 mm / 352 pages

Siri Østli THE CHRISTMAS CALENDAR

During breakfast on a totally ordinary Tuesday, Fie's husband abruptly tells her that he wants a divorce and tells her to move out. He is a dentist, and for years Fie has as well as being his wife been his faithful assistant - without pay. Now she is banished to an both impractical and uncharming attic apartment on the other side of the city. Dazed and in despair that her life has been turned up-side down, Fie tries to soften the blow with sedatives. Her grown up son is embarrassed about his mother break down and does not answer his phone.

Fie's sister Sara is the one who takes charge in the situation and demand that Fie get a grip of the situation. To speed things up, she gives Fie a challenging Christmas Calendar with new tasks every day leading up to Christmas. And with this, despair turns into an adventurous, at times overwhelming but in the end pretty nice advent after all!

The Christmas Calendar is a charming and touching Christmas book from the Norwegian queen of feelgood!

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

Siri Østli is married with five daughters and a university degree in French, Russian and Psychology. She debuted with Across Greenland in High Heels in 2009, and has since then received excellent reviews on a number of feelgood novels. The Christmas Calendar is her latest book, and it takes her authorship in a more uplit direction.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Turbine), Italy (Garzanti, Srl.), Germany (Bastei Lübbe), Finland (Bazar)

Ræstad GLASGOW KISS

Bjørnar, Leif Ketil and Torleif is on a boy’s trip to Scotland. They’re there to celebrate Torleif’s 50th birthday. But suddenly Torleif appears to faint and ends up in a coma after a massive heart attack. Left behind is the seaman Leif Ketil and the organizational psychologist Bjørnar. Together they are going to have to look after Torleif in a coma – and not least have to spend their days together.

Glasgow Kiss is a kind of reverse class journey which deals with having respect and openness towards different class cultures and methods of communication. The author Ræstad focuses on addressing one’s own prejudices, especially when you’re placed in a situation with someone who has completely different references and background from yourself. He depicts the situation with great wit and a humorous glance.

Roar Ræstad (b. 1968) lives in Trondheim and made his debut with the crime novel Sleeping dogs, for which he was nominated for the Maurits Hansen prize for Best Crime Debut. Ræstad has a history degree from NTNU, and has a varied background from work in fishing, shipbuilding, night life, healthcare and schools.

Roar

Glasgow Kiss 130 x 205 mm

Marit Reiersgård THE SUMMER BEFORE THE DAY IN MARCH

What would you do if you were somewhere you weren’t allowed to be when the country went into lockdown in March 2020? What if you lied to your spouse about where you were right then? And now you’re about to be exposed? This fatal day in March when the society shut down in Norway, is the framework for the novel The Summer Before the Day in March. It’s a contemporary novel about a mother who’s forced to make an impossible decision – because the consequences will be dramatic regardless of what she decides, not only for herself, but also for those close to her.

A funny and catchy novel about infidelity and a mid-life crisis from a critically acclaimed crime author.

Marit Reiersgård Bredesen (1965–) is a qualified window decorator. Over the last few years she has written novels and articles for magazines and technical journals.

Gunn Marit Nisja THE GOLDEN CHILD

Hedda’s first thought as she arrives at the deteriorating brown house in the God-forsaken Grodal is: Is this really where we are going to live? Her father is still in the East of Norway. Hedda, fifteen years old, has moved ahead with her mother and little sister Diddi. When she doesn’t get along with the girls in her class, she gets to know the boys instead, and they bring her along into a hitherto unknown and slightly dangerous world. But when is her father actually moving in? And how is she supposed to watch her little sister, who really gets to learn how cruel children can be…

25 years later Hedda is still trying to get to grips with what happened the summer she was fifteen…

The Golden Child is a touching and realistic coming-of-age novel from the countryside of West Norway, which encompasses more than just picturesque idyll.

Gullungen 130 x 205 mm

Gunn Marit Nisja (b. 1978) debuted in 2011 with the novel Naked in Hijab, which was nominated for the Booksellers' Prize and sold over 20,000 copies. Readers have also thoroughly enjoyed The Porcelain Girl (2013) and The Olive Stone (2014).

Grethe Bøe

MAYDAY

Sensational Action

Thriller Debut!

BESTSELLER!

The Arctic is blowing up – and Ylva is the spark!

Caught behind enemy lines, NATOpilots Ylva and John faces a seemingly impossible task: They have to cross the frozen Siberian tundra on foot - with the enemy at their heels – to get back to Norway and stop a catastrophe that might lead to World War III.

The relations between Russia and NATO are at a freezing point as NATO launches their greatest ever winter exercise in the far north of Norway. The Russians are provoked and mobilize their own “snap exercise” on the Russian side of the border.

Mayday 130 x 205 mm / 336 pages

A Russian fighter plane is provoking a Norwegian carrier helicopter in the border area between Norway and Russia, and F-16-pilots John Evans and Ylva Nordahl is sent to escort the helicopter safely to shore. The NATO-plane end up in a stress-flight with the Russian plane, and the F-16 is damaged in a near crash, it is then shot down after ending up on the Russian side of the border. The episode sparks political crisis where both Russia and NATO see the event as an attack.

The only thing that can stop an all-destructive conflict is the pilots Ylva Nordahl and John Evans making their way back across the border to Norway, to tell what really happened. It is a fight against time, as the Russian President, The General Secretary of NATO and private military industry are all sharpening their knives.

FULL ENGLISH TRANSLATION AVAILIABLE

Rights sold to: Estonia (Ajakirjade Kirjastus), Finland (Bazar), Germany (Heyene Verlag), Italy (Longanesi), Sweden (Modernista). Norway (Nordisk Film), Netherlands (Volt), United Kingdom (Mountain Leoprad Press), Denmark (Lindhardt&Ringhof), Egypt (Al Arabi Publishing & Distribution), Japan (Futami Shobo), Romania (Crime Scene Press)

Grethe Bøe THE SNOW LEOPARD

The Snow Leopard is a thrilling journey through the treacherous landscape of the Arctic, as the dedicated fighter pilot, Ylva Nordahl, save the world from the threat of the fifth colonists.

The powerful nations of the USA, Russia, and China vie for control of the Arctic and its valuable resources. As the stakes grow higher, Ylva finds herself drawn into a deeper conflict: One that pits traditionalism against Western liberalism, and which threatens to tear the world apart. Unknown forces are planning a terror attack on one of NATO’s nuclear-powered submarines on Svalbard, and the only one who can stop it is Ylva.

Following the success of Mayday, Ylva Nordahl is back in another political thriller with fast-paced action, a gripping plot, and nuanced exploration of contemporary politics and global power struggles. It is a story about sacrifice, courage, and the fight for survival in a rapidly changing world, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat from first to last page.

Grethe Bøe make her debut as an author with the action thriller Mayday. But she has for years been writing and directing internationally prize-winning films and TV-series from the Arctic areas. Her film Operasjon Arktis won the Amanda Prize in 2015 and was also featured at a number of international film festivals. She has worked as a camera assistant with Steven Spielberg.

Snøleoparden 130 x 205 mm

Hilde S. Palladino HIDDEN UNDER SNOW

Hidden under snow is a character-driven psychological crime fiction novel. Therapist Bjørk Isdahl is witness to the brutal suicide of one of her former clients – Azora. Among Azora’s possessions was a photograph of Bjørk, with the words ‘I know why you have nightmares’ written on it. Bjørk has always had terrible nightmares –nightmares she’s never mentioned to anyone else. So how could Azora have known about them, and why did she have that photo of Bjørk? Both the police and Bjørk search for the link between them. A link that connects the two and their lives more closely than Bjørk was even aware of herself.

This work of psychological crime fiction is a fascinating dive into repressed memory and how the past and one’s upbringing can shape and impact them – even if they don’t remember it.

EXCITING AND WELL-WRITTEN CRIME DEBUT WITH PLENTY OF DRIVE '... many surprises and people who both interests and moves us. ... Palladino writes with great energy.'

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

EFFICIENT NEW NORWEGIAN CRIME!

'… an elaborate debut. … H. S. Palladino (53) is a Norwegian crime writer debutant with a firm grip on her tools. … The revelations towards the novel’s end, regarding Azora’s fate and Bjørk’s own past, will likely surprise even the most alert of readers.' VG

FULL ENGLISH TRANSLATION AVAILABLE

Hilde Palladino (b. 1968) is a former student of Norway’s Crime Writer’s School and lives between Oslo and Bali. Self-employed, she runs various companies’ social media channels. Hidden under snow is her first crime novel.

Rights sold to: Denmark (Straarup & co.), Germany (Blanvalet – PRH), Sweden (Modernista AB)

Den som frykter snøen 130 x 205 mm / 400 pages

Excerpt from Hidden under snow, translated by Kari Dickson

I’m annoyed that I allowed myself to be lured out, check my phone to see if she’s called again, or left a message that I haven’t seen. Nothing. She probably forgot as soon as she rang off, lost herself in a high minutes later. I can just see her: thin and indifferent, on a filthy sofa. Her face devoid of personality, her sunken eyes unnaturally far back in their sockets. Why the hell did I agree to meet her? I turn on my heel and am about to leave, but then change my mind. People like her don’t have it easy. It won’t kill me to wait a little longer.

Remnants of the day’s downpour still linger in the air; the mist hangs heavy over the rooftops. I start to walk to and fro, pull my parka tighter around me, rub my hands together and blow into them. How I hate this time of year. If Azora’s not here in the next ten minutes, I’m leaving.

Then I curb my irritation, roll her name around my mouth. The gravel and rotten leaves scratch under the soles of my boots. Was she christened Azora, or was it just what she called herself`? I can’t remember. Must admit that I haven’t really given her much thought over the years. It’s not so strange, really, that she managed to get hold of my phone number. After all, in my face has been on the front page of every newspaper in the country more times than I can count in the past year – the most hated woman in Norway.

I suddenly get the feeling that I’m being watched. I can’t put my finger on it, but I glance up at the office windows and feel the hairs rise on my neck. Turn around, and squint up at the roofs, follow the edge all the way round. Is she up there? I immediately imagine I can see a shadow, but it’s probably no more than reflections in the mist. Maybe it’s a cat, or possibly some pigeons settling for the night. My pulse rate increases all the same. I shouldn’t be here. Not in this neighbourhood, not alone. And certainly not at this time of night.

When the light in the window is switched off, the courtyard is engulfed in darkness. I take a few steps back, notice that my legs are a bit wobbly and the sweet smells even more sickly. I hear car tyres on wet tarmac in the distance. I keep my eyes trained the top of the building. There’s no movement up there now. Just the metallic grey mist swirling.

I wait. Listen. Get ready to leave.

Then I get that feeling again, that someone’s watching me. Did they trick me into coming here so they could rob me? Is someone out to get me after everything that happened last year? I scan the office windows, one by one, looking for silhouettes. Get out my mobile phone, decide that Azora’s not coming. Look up at the roof one last time, as I listen for signs that I’m not alone.

I’m on my way back towards the curved passage when I hear it. The scream rends the night, and my body. An inhuman scream, full of fear, followed by a faint rush of air. From above. I don’t have time to think about what’s happening, just spin round and look up. And see a body falling, rotating, and crashing to the ground only a few metres from me.

Ellen G. Simensen

THE NAMELESS INHERITANCE

Nerve-wrecking psycological thriller

A June evening in year 2000 a group of youths gather by a tarn outside the city to celebrate the end of middle school and beginning of high school. The energy is high, but when dawn breaks the joy shatters. A girl has been raped, and her revenge ends in a merciless tragedy for everyone involved. It's an incident that causes deep marks.

Sixteen years later a doctor at a fertility clinic is brutally murdered. Police detective Lars Lukassen is assigned the case. The police quickly understands that it will be a challenging case to solve, and they soon are deep into an investigation involving Norway's sperm donor system and human lives, and also Lukassens's own history.

This is a crime novel in the spirit of Lisa Marklund’s The Polar Circle. The search for identity and the consequences of a public sperm donor system that is unravelling create the framework for the second novel Lars Lukassen, written by one of our most promising crime authors.

Ellen G. Simensen

BELIEVE ME WHEN I LIE

Police officer Lars Lukassen sees the chance of a promotion when he is called out to investigate a dead body. The situation at the police station in Hønefoss deteriorates when a sinister figure starts plaguing schoolchildren. At the same time, teacher Johanna Brekke arrives in town and Lars is attracted to her. But what is Johanna running away from, and who is friend and who is foe in the quest for truth?

Believe Me When I Lie is a psychological crime novel that spans a wide canvas, from eastern Norway to the far west of the country.

BESTSELLING CRIME DEBUT

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILIABLE

‘The language is playful and colorful, with nature descriptions approaching the poetic and filmatic. Especially when the plot turns to western Norway, she’s good. Very good … This book debut proves to be a solid and suspense-driven thriller, where the author shares her keen insight into the human mind.’

RINGERIKES BLAD

Ellen G. Simensen (b. 1975) is educated works as a career consultant. She has attended Cappelen Damm’s crime author programme, hosts a crime podcast and has arranged several writing courses for young people.

Natteløperen 130 x 205 mm / 192 pages

Karin Fossum

THE NIGHTRUNNER

Meidel Jonsson finds his grandfather dead in his house. Suddenly 18-year-old Meidel is all alone in the world. In his head he has many compartments: one for play, one for good ideas, one for causing havoc. As well as a compartment for pain and realisation, which he wants to close off forever. Now Meidel has nothing else to lose. But when he goes shopping at the local grocery store, he begins talking to the young girl behind the till and suddenly senses an opportunity.

Investigator Eddie Feber is a force of nature at work, and at home he has a house full of children and his wife Karmen who writes crime novels. In their town, several people start getting visits at night by a shining appearance holding a weapon. Feber doesn’t have much to work with, except for a note that says only ‘833’. Feber has his very own methods, and some will claim he often crosses the line.

'A charming detective and a nerve-wrecking crazy killer. This is Fossum-crime of the top shelf!'

DAGBLADET 

'The Nightrunner is yet another insightful crime about those who exist on the outside. A large story in a small format, told by an author who is still at the top in her genre. After 18 published novels that's no small feat!'

VG 

'… entertaining and elegant novel from one of our incisive Norwegian crime writers.'

TØNSBERGS BLAD 

Karin Fossum (b. 1954) made her literary debut in 1974 with the poetry collection Maybe Tomorrow (Kanskje i morgen), for which she won the Vesaas First Writer's Award. She has published books in several genres, but is best known for her crime fiction series about Inspector Konrad Sejer. Several of her books have been filmed for the screen and TV. She has received a number of prestigious awards, including an LA Times Book Award and The Brage Prize for her novel The Indian Bride (Elskede Poona). In 2017 The Riverton Club named her Best Norwegian Crime Writer through the times! Karin Fossum's books are translated into 34 languages.

Rights sold to: The Netherlands (Meulen Hoff De Boekerij), Germany (Saga)

Karin Fossum

DEADLY DRAGON, REMORSEFUL DOG

We’re in it together, she said. No matter how it ends, we two are in it together –can you promise me that? That she’ll die pretty soon? They looked at each other and smiled. After all, it was only a game.

Aksel is a journalist with the local newspaper whose boss says he's ‘good at tragedies’. His sister Ellinor has lost her job and is desperately seeking to escape from reality. Brother and sister have been close since childhood, bound together by destiny.

A gas leak on a one of the big farms kills several hired hands in their sleep. It looks like an accident.

In a nearby house, an 80-year-old woman is found lying at the foot of her stairs one day, with a crushed skull. Somebody has left the place in disarray to make it look like a burglary.

In Deadly Dragon, Remorseful Dog, we meet a new and unusual detective: Eddie Feber – a man blessed with joie de vivre and eight children. Alert and seemingly chaotic, he nonetheless has strategies for bringing the dark truth to light.

ENGLISH SAMPLE TRANSLATION AVAILIABLE

'[…] so beautifully written that it's a pleasure' NETTAVISEN 

'MANY CRIME NOVELS LACK THAT SOMETHING ELSE. NOT THIS ONE.' TØNSBERGS BLAD 

Rights sold to: Finland (Johnny Kniga), Netherlands (Meulen Hoff), Germany (Saga)

Drepende drage Angrende hund 130 x 205 mm / 240 pages

KARIN FOSSUM'S INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING KONRAD SEJERSERIES, NOW 15 NOVELS

Hans Olav Lahlum THE SIBLING MYSTERIES

The tenth novel in the K2 series from Hans Olav Lahlum!

It’s 1974 and K2 is now working as a private investigator. One day a young woman named Marlene shows up at his office. She puts a large bank note and a black-white photography on his desk. The man in the photo was convicted in 1963 for the murder of the woman’s older brother, Daniel, and is due to be released the following day. The only problem is that the young woman in K2’s office isn’t sure if the right man was convicted for the murder. She wants to pay K2 to solve the case. Then, the convict surfaces dead shortly after being released. Who's behind it all?

In K2's office, Daniel and Marlene's father also shows up. His wish to get answers to his own sister's disappearance back in 1939 means K2 has to ask his loyal consultant Patricia for help. Who was Daniel? Who killed him and why? And what is the connection between the disappearence in 1939, and the murders in 1963 and 1973?

Hans Olav Lahlum (b. 1973) is a writer and historian. He made his literary debut with the critically acclaimed biography Oscar Torp in 2007. He has since published a number of crime novels and non-fiction books. His crime novels have become bestsellers in Norway, and are available in English, Greek, Turkish, Bulgarian, Danish, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Russian, Slovakian and Korean.

BACKLIST:

RIGHTS SOLD TO: SOUTH KOREA, DENMARK, SLOVAKIA, BULGARIA, VIETNAM, RUSSIA, GREAT BRITAIN, GREECE, PORTUGAL, TURKEY, SPAIN

Sigbjørn Mostue THE SILENT SAVANNAH

The Silent Savannah is the sequel to Sigbjørn Mostue’s nail-biting, Riverton Prize-nominated thriller The heavens will weep blood in which we met the series hero: Even Stubberud, leader of a topsecret, counter-terrorism unit.

The retired elite soldier is looking to start a new life in Kenya, where he plans on helping train the Savannah gamekeepers and bring about an end to the ruthless slaughter of elephants and other wildlife. However, strong forces lie behind the poaching activities – forces connected to some of the world’s most powerful nations.

With an evocative imperial backdrop, The Silent Savannah is an intense and exciting thriller that highlights one of the greatest disasters of our time: Nature’s extinction.

Sigbjørn Mostue (b. 1969) has a degree in the History of Ideas, and has been working as an editor. He is now a full time writer, having written a number of bestselling books for young readers.

Taus savanne 130 x 205 mm /

Sigbjørn Mostue THE HEAVENS WILL WEEP BLOOD

The heavens will weep blood is a one-ofa-kind thriller journey.

Even Stubberud is a soldier in the Special Forces. But now he has fallen sick with cancer. Before he leaves the force he takes on one last mission: A simple escort of a terrorist to Somalia. The plane from Oslo is hijacked, and the terrorist is set free. The only one who can save the 245 passengers from certain death is an unarmed man, sick with cancer, with no knowledge about planes.

Sigbjørn Mostue has written a fast paced story that also touches our hearts. At times you might have to loose it all to win what is most important.

Himmelen skal gråte blod 130 x 205 mm / 384 pages

Hanne Gellein UNDER PAIN OF DEATH

At Moveien care home the residents seem frightened, scared, and confused. Lately there have been exceptionally many deaths following an unusually tough flu season, and at the same time there is little money for maintenance. One of the patients with dementia, Alma Lien, broke through the closed doors and was found frozen to death outside.

The string of deaths worries pathologist Silje Andersen, and she suspects something might be seriously wrong. But how can she prove it? Elderly people dying is completely natural.

Under Pain of Death is Hanne Gellein’s second crime novel and is a characterdriven psychological crime novel inspired by reality. It shows to what extent a distorted human mind can decide to defend its gruesome actions. Religious fanaticism, distorted selfimage, and the art of trusting oneself are key themes in this novel.

Hanne Gellein (b. 1978) is from Trondheim, but lives in Sweden with her husband and children. She is a trained nurse but has now turned her attention more towards writing of crime fiction. She made her debut in 2020 with the critically acclaimed novel All the Little Birds. Her second novel, Under Pain of Death, is a character driven crime of the gruesome and unpredictable kind, inspired by the true story of Norway’s worst serial killer.

Døden skal du lide 130 x 205 mm / 368 pages

Atle Nielsen

LOVE AND MURDER

In Love and Murder, we’re introduced to TV2 journalist Ole Bull as he works to push through a controversial report with major implications for a city council member and her family.

The case takes a dramatic turn when Bull’s own boss is fatally shot outside his home a few weeks later. Both the police and the media suspect that the unknown killer has several more names on their hit-list. Ole Bull goes into hiding in London, but little does he know that one of the clues in the murder case happens to lead the investigation to the very same place. A race between life and death ensues, in both London and Norway.

Love and Murder is a dark thriller about dangerous curiosity and what happens to a journalist’s integrity when constantly put to the test.

RANDABERG 24 

‘Simply put a really great crime novel.’

BERGENSAVISEN 

Atle Nielsen (b. 1956) has spent many years as a journalist, author, quizmaster and artist, and has published a number of books for both children and adults.

Mord og kjærlighet 130 x 205 mm / 384 pages

‘This has to be one of the best crime novels this spring.’