Exploring Norway: 10 books from the land of fjords

A list of books to read from Norway

The classic of the classics from Norway would be this one. Hunger is set in late 19th-century Kristiania (now Oslo), and recounts the adventures of a starving young man whose sense of reality is giving way to a delusionary existence. The novel is loosely based on the author’s own impoverished life before his breakthrough in 1890. Later Knut Hamsun became one of the most important and controversial writers of the 20th century. Hunger has been called the literary opening of the 20th century and an outstanding example of modern, psychology-driven literature.

For a more recent book still considered a classic, you could go for Tarjei Vesass:

The schoolchildren call it the Ice Palace: a frozen waterfall in the Norwegian fjords transformed into a fantastic structure of translucent walls, sparkling towers and secret chambers. It fascinates the two young girls, lonely Unn and lively Siss, who strike up an intense friendship. When Unn decides to explore the Ice Palace alone and doesn’t return, Siss must try to cope with the loss of her friend without succumbing to a frozen world of her own making.

Or how about a sweeping historic epic by Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset?

Kristin Lavransdatter tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman living in fourteenth-century Norway. The novel immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period. With its captivating heroine and emotional potency, Kristin Lavransdatter is the masterwork of one of Norway’s most beloved authors.

Not sure what the deal is with these passionate and headstrong Nordic women, but here’s another one. Dina’s Book is the first in a series of four – a sweeping epic on scale with Gone with the Wind set in the mid-nineteenth century. Dina is a beautiful, eccentric, and tempestuous heroine who carries a terrible burden: at the age of five she accidentally caused her mother’s death.

Herbjørg Wassmo has earned her position and popularity in Norway and abroad through her ability as a powerful storyteller with a special care for the exposed and vulnerable characters. If you already read Dina, I also very much recommend The house with the blind glass windows.

“We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I was fifteen. It was 1948 and one of the first days of July.“

In the present day, sixty-seven-year-old Trond has settled into a rustic cabin in an isolated area in the easternmost part of Norway to live the rest of his life with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him to reflect on that summer of 1948.

On a remote farm in northern Norway, eighty-year-old Anna Neshov is rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke. Aware of her failing health, her three sons: – the devout Christian funeral director, the successful decorator and the one who stayed behind at the decaying family farm – reluctantly reunite over the winter holidays. And unexpected guests and the question of inheritance prompts the revealing of some bizarre, and devastating, truths.

Anne B. Ragde is one of Norway’s most popular authors, and the dark comedy of the Berlin poplars is an international bestseller.

One night, after the first snowfall of the year, a boy named Jonas wakes up and discovers that his mother has disappeared. Only one trace of her remains: a pink scarf, his Christmas gift to her, now worn by the snowman that inexplicably appeared in their yard earlier that day …

With brilliantly realized characters and hair-raising suspense, international bestselling author Jo Nesbø presents his most chilling case yet. If you’ve been bitten by the Nordic Noir bug, this could be the choice for Norway.

TV presenter Allis Hagtorn leaves her partner and her job to take voluntary exile in a remote house on an isolated fjord. But her new job as housekeeper and gardener is not all that it seems, and her silent, surly employer, 44-year-old Sigurd Bagge, is not the old man she expected. As they await the return of his wife from her travels, their silent, uneasy encounters develop into a chilling, obsessive relationship, and it becomes clear that atonement for past sins may not be enough…

The Bird Tribunal is an exquisitely written psychological thriller that builds to a shocking, dramatic crescendo that will leave you breathless.

Four children, two summer houses, and one terrible family secret. Will and testament is a controversial story about a fractured family. About trauma, memory and the degree to which events of the past should be allowed to shape the future.

When published in Norway, Will and Testament became both a bestseller and a literary scandal. Though Vigdis Hjorth has insisted, that Will and Testament is fiction, the real-life media furor stemmed from the fact that Hjorth drew on her own family history. even prompting a rebuttal – in the form of another novel – by her sister Helga Hjorth.

Are you still waiting for the moose?

Doppler is a story about one man and his moose. This modern fable tells the story of a man who, after the death of his father, abandons his home, his family, his career, and the trappings of civilization for a makeshift tent in the woods where he adopts a moose-calf named Bongo. Or is it Bongo who adopts him?

Sweet, unexpected and hilariously funny, this is a strong criticism of modern consumer culture, a charming exploration of the pressures of modern existence and of finding friends in the strangest of places.