When the Devil Holds the Candle, by Karin Fossum
Filed under: book review, crime book, Inspector Konrad Sejer, Karin Fossum, Main character, Norwegian writer, recommendation
When the Devil Holds the Candle, by the Norwegian author Karin Fossum, won the Gumshoe award for best European crime novel published in the US in 2007.
When called in to investigate the crime, Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infant’s death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so, while the confusion in the world outside mounts, the chilling truth unfolds inside the old woman’s home.
Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small-town tranquility in an effort to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives.
When the Devil Holds the Candle is another brilliantly observed, precisely rendered psychological mystery from the highly acclaimed Karin Fossum, where she creates intensity by problematizing the roles of murderer and victim. A wonderful story by Fossum!
, or her Black Seconds (Inspector Sejer Mysteries)
.
Or, if you prefer amazon UK, you can order Karin Fossums books When the Devil Holds the Candle (Inspector Sejer Mystery)
The Faithful Wife, by Sigrid Undset
Filed under: book review, Nobel Prize Winner, Norwegian writer, recommendation
In The Faithful Wife, Sigrid Undset examines women’s relationship to professional life, to eroticism and childlessness. Nathalie is a modern woman of her time; she is liberated, 
has a good education and a leading position. She has been married to Sigurd for sixteen years, but they have no children. Nevertheless, their marriage has been happy and safe, Nathalie thinks. But while she is faithful, she finds out that her husband is not. What is wrong? What can she do?
In her works, Sigrid Undset, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, combines knowledge of history with psychological analysis and a powerful style. With this ‘domestic epic’, a sweeping drama set against a carefully studied social background, she broke a new ground. Undset turned away from the sentimental style of national romanticism, towards neo-realism. She wrote novels about women’s conditions which at the time when they were published were considered provocative and explicit.
The Faithful Wife was Sigrid Undset’s last contemporary novel, and it also bears witness to the age in which it was written – an inter-war period marked by rising Nazism and discussions about the value of human life. Sigrid Unset once again proves herself as a perceptive interpreter of the conditions and life’s of women as well as of this particular time period. To me, it was to some extent an eye-opener, but about women’s conditions at th time and about this moment in history.
The Faithful Wife is a wonderful book by one of the most talented Norwegian authors, and a book that raises fundamental questions that still are important to women, concerning the understanding of the nature of relationships between the sexes.
If you want to order at Amazon US you can use these links: Sigrid Undset’s The Faithful Wife
Benoni and Rosa, by Knut Hamsun
Filed under: book review, Nobel Prize Winner, Norwegian writer
Knut Hamsun is one of the most well known Norwegian writers internationally. He is also a Nobel prize winner in literature. His writing style is poetic, playful, ironic and beautiful. You can read more about Knut Hamsun at leserglede.com or at the Danish Knut Hamsun site.
Benoni and Rosa by Knut Hamsun is a double novel, the first is Benoni, and Rosa the second and continuation. The books tell the story of Benoni Hartvigsen, a local mail man, who becomes rich more or less over 
night. The local big-shot, Ferdinand Mack, makes him a partner in his business, and helps him court the daughter of the local priest, the very lovely and attractive Rosa.
Benoni and Rosa are two of the “lighter” stories written by Knut Hamsun. They are concerned with the changes in the character of Benoni, as well as in the people knowing him, that result from the radical change in circumstances that Benoni Hartvigsen experiences. To a large extent the description of this character and how he changes, resembles a book by another Norwegian author, Johan Falkberget, entitled “Bør Børson”. 
In both cases sweet innocent men who suddenly become rich, change into what may best be described as megalomaniacs. Rapid changes in circumstance is a theme that has attracted much attention both in classical and more modern literature, and Hamsun’s take on this theme is among the more interesting ones. The twists and turns in the odd relationship between Benoni and Rosa along with the “rags to riches” motif provide the dynamics of the story.
Thus this is a rich tale of personal change, rivalry in love and business, social and personal change, as well as love, courtship and passion. It is a story about the basic ingridients of life itself, told by a master storyteller and keen observer. Both as a love story and as a study of changing circumstances, Benoni and Rosa are excellent.
Benoni and Rosa tell an entertaining story, with lots of humor and irony. The language is outstanding; clear and concise, and a treat in itself. Benoni and Rosa definitely are among Hamsun’s best!
You can order these books by Knut Hamsun at amazon US: Benoni
Or, if you prefer, you can order Hamsun’s books from amazon UK: Benoni.
Grace, by Linn Ullmann
Filed under: book review, Fiction, Johan Sletten, Linn Ullman, Norwegian writer
The Norwegian author Linn Karin Beate Ullmann (born 1966) is the daughter of Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann and Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman. She is a graduate of New York University, where she studied English literature and also began work on her Ph.D. She returned to Norway in 1990 to pursue a career in journalism. She is married to Niels Fredrik Dahl, an award-winning Norwegian poet, novelist and playwright
Her third novel Grace was published in 2002 and won the prominent literary award “The reader’s prize” in Norway, and was named one of the ten best novels of that year by the prestigious newspaper “Weekendavisen” in Denmark.
In 2007, Grace was long listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in the UK.
Grace tells the story of Johan Sletten, a man whose life has not been the 
greatest success story: an unhappy first marriage, an estranged son, and an undistinguished career as a journalist. An ordinary life, like most lives. However, his second wife, Mai, has graced his life with love.
When told that he is terminally ill, with possibly only a few months left to him, Johan makes Mai promise to help him die “when the time comes”. But is this the true measure of love – to give the gift of death? And who decides when the time is right? Johan himself or his wife Mai? Death may come as a release, but to whom?
Linn Ullmann’s novel Grace portrays a passionate love affair and asks difficult questions about life, love and death. With cool precision, deep insight, and dark wit, it illustrates how the most ordinary of lifes can, in the end, be touched by grace.
Praise for Linn Ullmann’s Grace:
“Linn Ullmann masterfully manages to fill even the spaces between the lines. With only a small number of flashbacks and events making the text a convincing story, she succeeds in creating an incredibly dense and intense atmosphere. Tension builds, leaving the reader almost breathless, even though nothing really happens. Yet something does take place. The reader feels the spark.You are drawn in by the tension between the two spouses: their anxiety, their insecurity and their hopes. The stirring and dramatic ending of Linn Ullmann’s empathetic novel Grace is surprising.”
NDR (Germany)
See also author page on Linn Ullmann at leserglede.com.
Order books by Linn Ullmann from amazon US: Grace: A Novel
Order from amazon UK: Grace
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