Per Petterson Libri

On his first day of school, a teacher welcomes Audun to the class by asking him to describe his former life in the country. But there are stories about his family he would prefer to keep to himself, such as the weeks he spent living in a couple of cardboard boxes, and the day of his little brother's birth, when his drunken father fired three shots into the ceiling. So he refuses to talk and refuses to take off his sunglasses. In his late teens Audun is the only one of his family who remains with his mother in their home in a working-class district of Oslo. He delivers newspapers when he is not in school and talks for hours about Jack London and Ernest Hemingway with his best friend Arvid. But he's not sure that school is the right path for him, feeling that life holds other possibilities.

In 1948, when he is fifteen, Trond spends a summer in the country with his father. The events - the accidental death of a child, his best friend's feelings of guilt and eventual disappearance, his father's decision to leave the family for another woman - will change his life forever. An early morning adventure out stealing horses leaves Trond bruised and puzzled by his friend Jon's sudden breakdown. The tragedy which lies behind this scene becomes the catalyst for the two boys' families gradually to fall apart. As a 67-year-old man, and following the death of his wife, Trond has moved to an isolated part of Norway to live in solitude. But a chance encounter with a character from the fateful summer of 1948 brings the painful memories of that year flooding back, and will leave Trond even more convinced of his decision to end his days alone.

Per Petterson masters the art of writing simply of big subjects, and the stories in this collection - his debut, published in English for the first time - are beautiful tales of growing up in all its complexity, its wonders and confusions. Arvid Jansen is six years old and lives on the outskirts of Oslo. It's the early 60s, and his father works in a shoe factory; his Danish mother works as a cleaner. Arvid wets his bed at night and has nightmares about crocodiles, but slowly begins to piece the world together. His grandfather dies and he cries on seeing a photograph of his mother as a young woman - learning about the passing of time and growing old; and the world opens up to him when a teacher at his school says he and his fellow pupils must pray to God over the looming nuclear war.

In the years before the Nazis arrive, two young people growing up in Danish Jutland have dreams of leaving their frigid coastal town while coping with distant parents, eccentric family members, and the cold winds. In the aftermath of their grandfather's suicide, the arrival of puberty and most tragically, the German invasion, their idyllic childhood changes forever.

A major new novel from the author of the international bestseller Out Stealing Horses. Men in My Situation is a tender, scintillating portrait of grief, fatherhood and a life nearly going to pieces. In 1992 Arvid Jansen is thirty-eight and divorced. Turid has left with their three girls, slipping into her young, exuberant crowd of friends - the colourful - and a new house with no trace of their previous life together. More than a year has passed since the tragic accident that took his parents and two of his brothers. Existence has become a question of holding on to a few firm things. Loud, smoky bars, whisky, records, company for the night and taxis home. Or driving his Mazda into the stunning, solitary landscape outside of Oslo, sleeping in the car when his bed is an impossible place to be, craving a connection that is always just beyond reach. At some point, the girls decide against weekend visits with their dad. Arvid suspects that his eldest daughter, Vigdis, sees what kind of a man he really is. Adrift and inept, paralysed by grief. And maybe she's right to keep her distance from his lonely life. Is there any redemption for a man in his situation? When Arvid has lost or been left by all those dear to him and feels his life unravelling, perhaps there is still a way forward.

To menn møtes tilfeldig en tidlig morgen på brua over til Ulvøya i Oslo. Tommy og Jim. De har ikke sett hverandre på femogtredve år, men en gang hadde de vært venner så langt tilbake de kunne huske. Et vennskap like naturlig som å puste. Men hva skjer hvis den ene plutselig får det for seg at et vennskap må fortjenes? Og i dag: Jim står og fisker på brua, og Tommy kommer kjørende i sin nye Mercedes. Er det ikke rart, sier han, at ting kan bli sånn, omvendt. Fortid møter nåtid i det døgnet vi følger dem, tidlig i september, 2006.

Mit einem waghalsigen Sprung erobern Arvid und sein älterer Bruder eine gefährlich schwankende Eisscholle, balancieren sich aus und lassen sich aufs offene Meer treiben. Am Ufer steht ihr Vater und ruft sie vergeblich zurück. Dies ist eine der Kindheitserinnerungen, die Arvid immer wieder heimsuchen. Fast sechs Jahre ist es her, dass Arvids Vater bei einem Schiffsbrand ums Leben kam, zusammen mit seiner Frau und den beiden jüngsten Söhnen. Nur Arvid, 43, Schriftsteller, und sein älterer Bruder sind übrig geblieben. Doch die alte Vertrautheit zwischen den Geschwistern will sich nicht wieder einstellen, zu sehr sind sie in ihrer Trauer gefangen. Erst nach und nach lernt Arvid, mit den ambivalenten Gefühlen gegenüber seinem Vater umzugehen, der in fast allem sein Gegenstück war. Schicht um Schicht legt er die Geschichte seiner Familie frei und erfährt dabei, dass auch der Vater zu etwas imstande war, das er ihm nie zugetraut hätte: Leidenschaft und tiefe Verzweiflung.

Het is 1989, de Muur valt en de wereld is voorgoed veranderd. Arvid probeert in zijn bestaan krampachtig een nieuw houvast te vinden, een gevoel van geborgenheid, maar hij beseft dat hij de tijd door zijn vingers heeft laten glippen en dat het misschien wel te laat is... Deze roman gaat over het zoeken naar een thuis, de wens je naasten te vertellen hoeveel je van ze houdt, en over de poging de persoon te worden die je wilt zijn. Een schitterend verhaal, prachtig verstild beschreven met zeer herkenbare thema’s, zoals de eenzaamheid in intieme relaties, de sterfelijkheid van ouders en het gevoel dat je leven je ontglipt. Een boek dat je raakt tot op het bot. Een boek ook met veel (zwarte) humor, zoals in de beschrijving van Arvids moeder, die als kettingrookster altijd bang was om longkanker te krijgen en zich boos maakt dat het uiteindelijk maagkanker is geworden.

Twee mannen komen elkaar tegen op een brug. Er volgt een ongemakkelijk gesprek: Tommy en Jim waren vroeger vrienden, maar hebben elkaar al vijfendertig jaar niet meer gezien. Door deze toevallige ontmoeting komen veel herinneringen uit hun jeugd boven, toen ze allebei opgroeiden in gebroken gezinnen en kracht putten uit hun vriendschap. Tommy en Jim zijn ieder hun eigen weg gegaan, maar kunnen niet aan hun veelbewogen verleden ontsnappen.