Tag: norway

Påskekrim: Harry, Chastity and Stella 🐣

On By Ewa ShermanIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Time is always right for crime. Or krim, and by that I mean crime fiction. One morning in March at the Norwegian Gardermoen airport I was waiting for a plane to Warsaw. The plane was delayed, delayed and delayed, and then cancelled. Suddenly I was scheduled to fly to Stockholm and then to Warsaw. My original plan was gone. When everything is out of my control, the only thing that remains is to deal with the day and to travel to another place via a book. I spent hours at two big airports and arrived in a hotel close to midnight. However, in a meantime I have been to Wilhelmsburg, so-called ‘problem area’ in Hamburg thanks to Sharks, a tale of greed, power and resistance, by Simone Buchholz, in excellent translation from German by Rachel Ward. That’s where the latest story takes place as the prosecutor Chastity Riley is assigned the case of a brutally murdered American couple found in a derelict villa in this part of the town. She quickly finds herself waist-deep in a murky tangle of city planners, shady investors and vanishing officials. The gentrification machine is rolling on, and someone is sending a very clear message. As November fog settles over the city, Chastity is coughing up blood, her personal life is a slow-motion disaster, and her former colleague, Faller, won’t stop interfering. But nothing’s going to stop her from cutting through the lies – not even the sharks circling ever closer.

I’ve admired Buchholz’s gritty, precise and quick-witted writing since her first book was published in UK by Orenda Books, and I love how she doesn’t shy from pushing her characters into thought-provoking situations without compromising her own sharp and visceral style. She embraces vulnerability and the feeling of camaraderie in tough circumstances: ‘Like I said, aren’t we all just glorious bastards. And my team-building techniques are a blast.’ Beton Rouge, the second book in the series, made huge impression on me, with its originality and dark sense of humour.  

My timing regarding writing reviews is often off. Basically I am late to most parties, even if I’m up to speed with what’s going on in the crime fiction world. So as I finished the latest Stella Blómkvist’s book The Murder Pool I was very impressed by the way the main character’s personal story developed over the course of four novels we had a pleasure to read in English thanks to the translator extraordinaire Quentin Bates. I occasionally arrange blog tours for new publications ready to fly into the English sphere, and have done exactly that for Corylus Books. Yet, in this case before I even got to draft my review of the most mature / compelling incarnation of two Stellas: the mysterious author and the controversial heroine, brilliant posts from knowledgeable bloggers began to appear online. So allow me to point you in the direction of their excellent thoughts. Here are comments from Peter turns the page, Raven Crime Reads, amwbooks, Brown Flopsy’s Book Burrow, Blue Book Balloon, AnnaBookBel, Jen Med’s Book Reviews, West Words Reviews, Angry Algonquin, Trip Fiction, Madame Bibi Lophile Recommends, Crime Fiction Lover, plus Paul Burke’s reviews of all four books in Aspects Of Crime. It might seem like an information overload but if you’re into high quality writing about books, you probably know these people already, or will enjoy discovering them.

Special time for the unique brilliant and damaged detective Harry Hole will come tomorrow. So far I have watched only one episode (OMG! The tension!) of the new series and Tobias Santelmann is sensational as Harry and Oslo is both realistic and totally unreal. I also wanted to read again The Devil’s Star on which the latest worldwide sensation from Netflix is based. My copy of the book is from 2009 when Jo Nesbø was still being compared to the legendary Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. The translation from Norwegian by Don Bartlett became as iconic as the books themselves.

I’ve been a huge fan Jo Nesbø’s literary and music career for years, and followed in Harry Hole’s footsteps in Oslo: Jo Nesbø’s Knife. I also love his band Di Derre.

I had no time to finish reading One True Word by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson but I’m on it. Translated by Larissa Kyzer this is an original take on the possibly unreliable narrator: After a day of simmering tension on a trip to an uninhabited island, Júlia snaps and leaves her husband Gíó marooned in the middle of a freezing fjord in the depths of the Icelandic winter, with night drawing in. When she regrets her decision and returns, he is nowhere to be found. The police launch a manhunt, but soon their suspicion falls on his wife. She spins them a story to hide her involvement, but she can feel the net closing in.’

I also have a stack of Scandinavian crime fiction books in translation entered for the Petrona Award 2026 but that’s another long story.

Tonight I won’t be heading to a wooden cabin in the forest or mountains as per the longstanding Norwegian tradition of Påskekrim (God Påske with Don Bartlett). No time. No cabin. Yet. But I have my favourite Freya chocolate, enthusiastic daffodils, warm blanket and working TV at home. Plus milk cartons with the annual mystery from Tine, one of Norway’s largest food companies and supplier of dairy products. Outside the last night’s  snow has melted, seagulls are discussing the best places for laying their eggs, and my cat is supervising everything that’s happening (or not) in the garden. 

Outside the overnight snow has melted, seagulls are discussing the best places for bringing up their chicks and my cat is supervising everything that’s happening (or not) in the garden. 

Have a great Easter whatever you do. God påske. Happy Påskekrim 🐣

The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow: by Elin Anna Labba

On By Ewa ShermanIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

In September my review (below) was published on the pages of European Literature Network, run by Rosie Goldsmith, Anna Blasiak and West Camel. It’s always an honour and a plasure to contribute to this exciting and super interesting project / venture. I’d encourage you to read Elin Anna Labba’s book and also other works reviewed and recommended by European Literature Network’s team.

‘The elders spoke of how they used to greet the land when they came here, the mountains, the dwelling places, and the paths, but I dare not. Just where do I belong? What is my home? I have discussed this with other grandchildren of forcibly displaced people.’

Before I focus on The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow, allow me to begin with mentioning a different novel: Petra Rautiainen’s Land of Snow and Ashes (translated from the Finnish by David Hackston), which is set after World War Two and affected me profoundly. One strand of this novel deals with Finland’s fairly recent traumatic history of forcing Sámi people to abandon their heritage, culture and identity to become ‘pure’ Finnish citizens. 

Elin Anna Labba’s deeply personal and somehow universal The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow: The Forced Displacement of the Northern Sámi therefore stopped me in my tracks. It is a truly heart-wrenching examination of the new rules that were imposed in the early twentieth century on the indigenous people who had lived for centuries in northern Scandinavia. Their forced removal remains a deeply painful memory. Shame, injustice and hurt prevail in this book, alongside lyrical images of longing, and of the irreplaceable human costs borne in the harsh but ultimately stunning natural world of the region.

The author travels to this lost homeland of her ancestors, aiming to reclaim their place in the history of both Norway and Sweden. Labba, a Sámi journalist and previously editor-in-chief of the magazine Nuorat, asks herself: ‘Do I have the right to mourn for a place that has never been mine?’, and is of course aware that ‘boundaries have always existed, but they used to follow the edges of marshes, valleys, forests, and mountain ranges’. 

Nature and its seasons, the environment and tradition, had dictated the way people lived, organised their work and travel in winter and summer, how they grazed their reindeer in specific areas and drove them across the straits between the islands and the mainland. They had roots, connections, customs, and different methods of grazing the strong animals, all essential for their existence. The lives of forest Sámi and mountain Sámi were shaped across the generations by the weather. And there were always real emotional and physical ties to places even if they moved between them: ‘We carry our homes in our hearts.’ 

On 5 February 1919, the reindeer-grazing convention that sparked the forced displacement of the Sámi was signed by the foreign ministers of Sweden and Norway. Soon after, the era of ‘racial biology’ research started in Sweden. The Lapp Authority then followed newly established laws on the reduction of reindeer numbers and decided which of the Sámi could stay on their land and who must move to a different area. The displacements ensued. The legislation was unclear to the ordinary Sámi people, and therefore the appeals they made failed to protect their families. This meant women and children were the most vulnerable members of the community. ‘Family ties are the most precious thing anyone can have, apart from reindeer’ and without them ‘a man who’s left his lands no longer has a home. He no longer has his feet on the ground’. 

‘For many, recounting the tale is a way to heal’ and so The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow contains fragments of letters, conversations and poems, in excellent translation from Swedish by Fiona Graham, as well as old photographs showing difficult yet beautiful living conditions, and the nature of the Sámi existence: ‘You bear your hurt alone, for breaking down won’t make your daily life any easier. This philosophy of life revolves around the word birget – surviving and coping. Each year the reindeer must survive the winter: that is what matters, not people’s feelings.’ Fiona Graham translated also 1947: When Now Begins by Elisabeth Åsbrink, another book that affected me profoundly, from human, political and historical perspectives, and has been on my mind for the last two years.

Choosing and being in the culture of joiking, the goahti (tent) protecting them ‘against the wind, the darkness, and everything that can’t be seen’, against rain, snow and sun, and living according to tradition, should always have been the Sámi’s decision to make. 

Krimfestivalen 2025

On By Ewa ShermanIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The snow is gone, sun is shining and birds are singing and world seems happy and relaxed as we stand in a long queue outside Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, one of the largest Norwegian publishing houses. It was founded in 1925 after buying rights to publications from the Danish company of the same name. However, right now nobody thinks of its illustrious history. The aim is to get inside the beautiful building in central Oslo and find a good seat to enjoy crime. International crime fiction in fact as the new Krimfestivalen is just about to begin. Since the free festival was first held in 2012, it has been a huge success, and now it is considered as one of the world’s leading crime festivals. Over three days fifty writers from Norway and abroad will share some of their secrets, writing tips and opinions in three locations; here at Gyldendal and two other publishers: Cappelen Damm and Aschehoug. The last or so decade has been a golden age for NordicNoir crime fiction. The festival organisers are keen to celebrate this phenomenon and keep Nordic crime fiction within the international perspective, and we – the fans – know how intriguing and fascinating various books in this genre are. We don’t seem to get enough of them, and luckily – the authors keep writing.

Lubna Jaffrey, Minister of Culture and Equality, and Ingeborg Volan, the publishing director at Gyldendal Litteratur, welcomed the crowd of readers and writers.

The festival began with the conversation between the journalist Hilde Sandvik and the shining global star Jo Nesbø who discussed various American themes that have influenced both his life and his latest thriller. The English translation by Robert Ferguson is due to be published in August 2025. Minnesota or Wolf Hour, set in the American Midwest in 2016, brings a powerful mix of unexpected twists, dark secrets and personal and political tension. Here’s the blurb: ‘When a small-time crook is shot down in the street, all signs point to a lone wolf, a sniper who has seemingly vanished into thin air. Down-and-out detective Bob Oz is sitting in a dive bar in Minneapolis when he gets a call: there’s been another murder, and they don’t think it will be the last. As the body count grows, Oz suspects that something more sinister is at play. And the closer he gets the more disturbed he becomes. Because the serial killer reminds him of someone: himself’.’

Nesbø was joined on stage by Sweden’s huge star Pascal Engman whose challenging but incredible Femicide / Råttkungen was the Winner of Petrona Award 2023 for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. Discussion in Norwegian and Swedish between masters of the thriller focused on function of the literature which of course includes the crime fiction. Its purpose, apart from entertaining and creating a fantastic reading experience, is the possibility to create some kind of meaning and understanding of the world and what is going on in the current climate, touching on the social, historical and political aspects. Both authors agree that it is also much better to finish a novel with an open ending rather than a happy ending because how would such a ‘happy’ conclusion to a terrifying story work out in practice really?

Gunnar Staalesen, called the Norwegian Raymond Chandler, also considers that writing and reading crime fiction can bring some kind of resolution, some sense of what’s happening around us. Staalesen was celebrating 50 years as a writer earlier in January this year. The short summary of his writing career, and relatively short chat on the stage with Nils Nordberg, another great writer and one of leading experts on crime fiction, don’t really show huge impact Staalesen has made on the readers, critics and other writers. I was lucky to read and review several of his books (We Shall Inherit The Wind, Where Roses Never Die, Wolves in the Dark, Big Sister, Wolves at the Door, Fallen Angels). He made his debut at the age of 22 with his first novel Uskyldstider / Times of Innocence in 1969. Since then, he has published a wide range of novels, plays and children’s books, but he is primarily known as a crime fiction writer. The books about a social worker turned private detective Varg Veum have been published in 23 countries, including France, England, Germany, Italy, Russia and Poland, and several of them have been adapted for cinema and television. The iconic Varg Veum is a truly exceptional complex character. And one of my all-time favourite heroes, too.

I spent several hours at Krimfestivalen, listened to the chats between Sarah Natasha Melbye and the Swedish mentalist and writer Henrik Fexeus, and later with immensely popular Elly Griffiths (UK) and Emelie Schepp (Sweden) about their fascinating and strong female characters: Ruth Galloway, Jana Berzelius and Maia Bohm. The powerful and often flawed fictional heroines are undoubtedly unforgettable. Helene Flood (The Therapist, The Lover), Torkil Damhaug (Medusa, Certain Signs That You Are Dead) and editor Marius Fossøy Mohaugen shared some of the intricacies of how to write a good authentic psychological thriller. The ‘who’ isn’t as important as ‘why’ to make people’s actions and motives believable.

It was getting late when French Noir took over with the French author Bernard Minier and the French resident Aslak Nore in conversation. I enjoyed Night by Bernard Minier and am looking forward to reading Havets kirkegård / The Sea Cemetery by Aslak Nore.

Only one day at the festival. Overwhelmed and tired in the best way possible, I felt that ‘my’ tribe is doing great. I got a new book: Mørkefall by Sven G. Simonsen, and had others signed. I didn’t miss my train home.

One of the exciting moments during the festival is the announcement of the nominees for the Riverton Prize / Golden Revolver 2024, to the author of the best Norwegian crime fiction work in the previous year:

  • Du kan kalle meg Jan / You Can Call Me Jan by Anne Elvedal
  • Fuglekongen / The King of Birds by Eva Fretheim
  • Den ingen ser / The One No One Sees by Terje Bjøranger  
  • Tørt land / The Lake by Jørn Lier Horst
  • Kongen av Os. Kongeriket 2 / Blood Ties. The Kingdom 2 by Jo Nesbø

This year’s prize will be awarded next month.