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Something That Helps

Translated by: Kari Dickson

From acclaimed Norwegian writer Mona Høvring comes an intimate and stirring coming-of-age and sexual awakening story of a young woman following her own path to destruction and reconciliation.

Laura is in her late teens, living in a small coastal town in Western Norway, the summer before her final year of school. Haunted by the death of her mother by suicide, she has a strained relationship with her fisherman father and feels the absence of her brother and closest friend, both of whom have moved away. Equal parts lonely and bewildered, a lack of guidance has made her independent, determined, and vulnerable.

When Laura meets the older, more experienced Vivian Koller, the encounter sets in motion a series of events that will come to define her and her future. Crucial influences converge, pushing the simultaneously childish and adult protagonist into dark places—and eventually toward the start of a new life.

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

“An unbelievably beautiful little book. All elements are constantly at play; water (sea, rain), fire (bonfire, cigarettes), air (wind, breathing) and earth (garden, plants). Recommended!” —Elle



“A remarkable publication—slim and wild, sensual and tender, strange and beautiful…a short novel with great explosive force” —Hamar Arbeiderblad



“With Something that Helps, Mona Høvring has written a gem of a book” —Aftenposten



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Details

Dimensions:

144 Pages
8in * 5.25in * 0.3in
0.36lb
.36lb

Published:

October 06, 2026

Publisher:

Book*hug Press

ISBN:

9781771669801

Book Subjects:

FICTION / Coming of Age

Language:

eng

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