This week, Anders de la Motte’s Dead of Winter celebrates its fourth consecutive week at No. 1 on the official Swedish paperback bestseller list. Niklas Natt och Dag’s 1794 makes a repeat showing as well, coming in at No. 5 in hardcover also this week, and climbing the e-book list to No. 3.
Stefan Ahnhem and Jørn Lier Horst continue to feature on the official Norwegian bestseller lists. They each grab a spot on week 46’s e-book list, Ahnhem’s X Ways to Die coming in at No. 4, and Horst’s Ill Will at No. 5.
Matias Faldbakken’s We Are Five has been shortlisted for one of the most prestigious literary awards in Norway, the Norwegian Radio’s Literary Award. The prize is awarded by NRK and the winner will be announced in February, 2020.
Previous winners include Linn Ullmann and Karl Ove Knausgård.
We Are Five has already been lauded by NRK in a recent review:
“We Are Five can be read straight off as an entertaining, gruesome and, a quarter in, grim story. It is also possible to reflect on how fragile the normality is, and how easy it is to go from an uncomplicated everyday-life into the completely uncontrollable. /…/ [Matias Faldbakken] is a master at slowly building the tension. /…/ The analytic [reader] will find pleasure in studying how seamlessly and elegantly the author moves between rural realism and familiar Norwegian family dynamics, into a set of completely different genres. It’s so good it hurts.”
Simona Ahrnstedt’s gripping novel The Scandalous is nominated for Der Lovelybooks Leserpreis 2019 in the category ‘Historical Novels’. The award is the biggest readers’ choice book award in the German speaking world and is awarded to the readers’ favorite author of the past 12 months.
The voting will close on 26th of November. To vote, click “Read more” below.
Bobbie Peers’ short film To Plant a Flag, starring Jake Johnson and Jason Schwartzman, is the winner of the prestigious Grand Prix at Brest European Short Film Festival. The festival showcases the creativity and dynamism of European filmmaking and is known as one of the two top short film festivals in France.
Today marks the release date of Temple & Young’s first album, the self-titled Temple & Young. The duo behind the music is Andreas Kleerup – previously known for collaborations with Robyn, Neneh Cherry, Lykke Li, Teddybears and more – and bass player/producer Andreas Unge, recently returned from Africa where he worked with names like Oumou Sangaré, Salif Keita, Cheikh Lô, Youssou N’Dour and others.
Available on all platforms today, Temple & Young is timeless, hypnotic and mind-expanding space travel in musical form.
Anders de la Motte’s Dead of Winter is No. 1 on the official paperback bestseller list for the third week in a row. Niklas Natt och Dag meanwhile grabs two No. 5 placements with 1794, one on the hardcover list and one on the e-book list. Frida Ramstedt also claims a No. 5 spot, in her case on the nonfiction list, with Make Yourself at Home: The Ultimate Guide to Interior Decorating.
Anders Roslund’s bone-chilling Knock Knock has now been sold to 25 territories! The lauded crime novel sees the iconic duo Grens and Hoffman reunite as the world trembles during three explosive days.
Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger’s Death Deserved is No. 2 on the official paperback bestseller list of week 45. Stefan Ahnhem’s X Ways to Die meanwhile comes in at No. 3 on the e-book list, and Jørn Lier Horst’s Ill Will is No. 5.
The newly published We Are Five by Matias Faldbakken has been shortlisted for the 2020 Young Critics’ Award in Norway.
The jury says:
“As with his previous novel The Hills, there is a brilliance to We Are Five. The story of the rural family father who unwittingly creates a lump of living clay in his workshop is both so effortlessly told and ingeniously thought out that it stands out tremendously among this year’s books. Here you will encounter a sci-fi version of the narrow small-town mindset, a fluent and unpretentious use of mythology, and a magical realism that feels completely natural and essential.”
The award ceremony will be held in Oslo on March 12, 2020.
Arab World, Al Arabi
Closed by Emma Granberg
Spain, Duomo
Closed by Linda Andersson
UK, Bloomsbury
Closed by Josephine Oxelheim
Korea, Dasan
Closed by Emma Granberg
Netherlands, De Geus
Two-book deal closed by Tor Jonasson
Hungary, Libri/Helikon
Closed by Emma Granberg
[A novel which] made me breathe the atmosphere of Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, overwhelming me with a colorful universe, with a gallery of diverse characters portrayed as eccentric and bizarre, but at the same time with great empathy and love.
– Thriller Storici e Dintorni
Not for the faint hearted. /…/ This is a story filled with thrills and horror. I had to flip through the pages a bit at times before I dared to read further, but I was quickly gripped by the narrative.
– Din Avis
The author ties all the threads together into a real page-turner of a crime novel. The chapters are short and the pace is high. (…) The language is snappy, entertaining, and natural, and the story is gripping. The characters are quirky and interesting, and Leo herself is tough as nails yet still relatable.
– BTJ
The novel adds flesh to the bones and fire to the blood – as well as an interpretation of history. /…/ Passion has always been a rewarding theme for fiction, and Niklas Natt och Dag’s historical novel is an adventure tale filled with tempestuous voyages, charged encounters, bloody battles, and sudden, violent death.
– Dagens Nyheter
Those who have read and appreciated The Crow Girl trilogy will find the same creeping sense of unease in The Peacock Man. Erik Axl Sund excels at creating that unsettling atmosphere. The authors also have a remarkable talent for portraying wounded, broken individuals in a way that feels authentic. /…/ The greatest reward lies in the depiction of Mauritz Möller—pitiful, even repulsive, yet utterly fascinating to follow.
– Gefle Dagblad
Diamonds and Rust is a story about wounds that never heal, about envy, betrayal and revenge, and about a crime so well and thoroughly thought out that it may never be solved. Not unless Hanne Wilhelmsen gets a chance to try.