2024

 Lady from the Sea by Henrik Ibsen

The Lady from the Sea, play in five acts by Henrik Ibsen, published in Norwegian as Fruen fra havet in 1888 and first performed in early 1889. It was the first of several mystical psychological dramas by Ibsen.

The play traces the increasing distraction of Ellida Wangel, the second wife of Dr. Wangel. She is obsessed with images of the sea because she once loved a sailor with a powerful will who promised to someday claim her. When the sailor does arrive, her husband releases her from her wedding vows. This act restores her equilibrium and breaks the sailor’s spell over her. (Britannica) 

The Assistant by Kjell Ola Dahl

A seemingly straightforward investigation into marital infidelity leads a PI and his ex-con assistant on a murderous trail, in a sophisticated, riveting historical Nordic Noir thriller set in interwar and prohibition-era Norway. 

Both a fascinating portrait of Oslo’s interwar years, with Nazis operating secretly on Norwegian soil and militant socialists readying workers for war, The Assistant is also a stunningly sophisticated, tension-packed thriller – the darkest of hard-boiled Nordic Noir – from one of Norway’s most acclaimed crime writers. (Goodreads)

The 12th Man by Astrid Scott and and Tore Haug

A stunning story of heroism and survival during World War II. The book that inspired the international film of the same name. “A must-read …. Intrigue, suspense, and adventure."—The Norwegian American"I remember reading We Die Alone in 1970 and I could never forget it. Then when we went to Norway to do a docudrama, people told us again and again that certain parts were pure fiction. Since I was a Norwegian that was not good enough; I had to find the truth. I sincerely believe we did,” writes author Astrid Karlsen Scott.  

The 12th Man is the true story of Jan Baalsrud, whose struggle to escape the Gestapo and survive in Nazi-occupied Norway has inspired the international film of the same name. In late March 1943, in the midst of WWII, four Norwegian saboteurs arrived in northern Norway on a fishing cutter and set anchor in Toftefjord to establish a base for their operations. However, they were betrayed, and a German boat attacked the cutter, creating a battlefield and spiraling Jan Baalsrud into the adventure of his life. (Goodreads)

Note:  Astrid was a member of Washington Lodge.

The Other Name by Jon Fosse

Jon Fosse (born September 29, 1959, Haugesund, Norway) Norwegian author of novels, plays, poems, children’s books, and essays, who has also worked as an instructor and a translator. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2023 “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” The prolific wordsmith has written more than 40 plays and some 30 works of fiction in Nynorsk. (Britannica)

The Other Name follows the lives of two men living close to each other on the west coast of Norway. The year is coming to a close and Asle, an aging painter and widower, is reminiscing about his life. He lives alone, his only friends being his neighbor, Åsleik, a bachelor and traditional Norwegian fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in Bjørgvin, a couple hours’ drive south of Dylgja, where he lives. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter. He and the narrator are doppelgangers—two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life. (Gooddreads)

The Northern Lights by Lucy Jago

Throughout the ages, the lights of the aurora borealis were believed to be messengers of gods, signs of apocalypse, or souls of the dead; even the most sophisticated scientists misapprehended their cause. Now Lucy Jago tells the story of the science--and the romance--behind the Northern Lights as she traces the grand adventure of the life of the visionary Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland. (Goodreads)

Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad

Bjørn Hansen has just turned fifty and is horrified by the thought that pure chance has ruled his life. Novel 11, Book 18 is an uncompromising and concentrated existential novel which earned Dag Solstad his second Norwegian Critics’ Prize.  (Goodreads)