Fanny and the Mystery in the Grieving Forest

Shortlisted for the 2017 Brage Prize

Fanny, a 17-year-old high school senior, has lost both her parents in a car accident. Granted permission to live independently in the family home located on the outskirts of a small Norwegian town, the days pass by as she performs her daily routine: going to school, maintaining the house, chopping and stacking wood, and keeping the weeds at bay. As Fanny grieves and attempts to come to terms with the sad circumstances of her life, a fairy tale-like world full of new possibilities begins to emerge around her.

Written by Rune Christiansen, one of Norway’s most exciting literary talents, and masterfully translated by Kari Dickson, Fanny and the Mystery in the Grieving Forest is a beautiful, poetic portrait of grief, friendship, independence and transgression.

AUTHOR

Rune Christiansen

RUNE CHRISTIANSEN is a Norwegian poet and novelist. One of Norway’s most important literary writers, he is the author of more than 20 books of fiction, poetry and nonfiction. He has won many prestigious awards, including the 2014 Brage Prize for his bestselling novel, The Loneliness in Lydia Erneman’s Life. Fanny and the Mystery in the Grieving Forest was shortlisted for the same prize and published in English by Book*hug Press in 2019. He is also a professor of creative writing. Christiansen lives just outside of Oslo, Norway.

AUTHOR

Kari Dickson

KARI DICKSON is a literary translator. She translates from Norwegian, and her work includes literary fiction, children’s books, theatre, and nonfiction. In 2019, Book*hug Press published her translation of Rune Christiansen’s Fanny and the Mystery in the Grieving Forest, and, in 2021, her co-translation of Mona Høvring’s Because Venus Crossed an Alpine Violet on the Day that I Was Born. She is also an occasional tutor in Norwegian language, literature and translation at the University of Edinburgh, and has worked with the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) and the National Centre for Writing. Dickson lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Reviews

“Christiansen’s stylistic confidence and authoritative writing lift the text to a level rarely reached in Norwegian contemporary literature. Fanny and the Mystery in the Grieving Forest deserves not only literary prizes but also an audience far greater than Norway.” —Dag og Tid

“An exquisite novel of grief. Rune Christiansen shows us yet again why he is one of Norway’s leading literary stylists. Reading Rune Christiansen is a pleasure unlike any other.” —Aftenposten

“Fanny is an interesting character who plays by her own rules when it comes to continuing life without those she loves.” —Shelf Life

“Something about the attitude or feeling of the book appeals to me greatly: the way the story is written, the forest, the feeling of hidden folklore, the matter-of-factness. Life is overwhelming and difficult, but no one said it was meant to be easy, and, in the middle of it all, there is something moving and beautiful to read about.” —2020 Book Review, Jennifer Morag Henderson, author of Josephine Tey: A Life

“These fragments are sharper-edged than they seem, and the juxtaposition of whimsical feeling with an evocative handling of depression leads this novel toward its powerful, haunting conclusion.”—Words Without Borders

“A magnificent novel. Gripping, poetic and thought-provoking. 6/6 stars.” —VG