Norwegian Historical Fiction

From the bestselling author of Kafka on the Shore: A magnificent coming-of-age story steeped in nostalgia, “a masterly novel” (The New York Times Book Review) blending the music, the mood, and the ethos that were the sixties with a young man’s hopeless and heroic first love. Now with a new...

The latest Scandinavian publishing phenomenon is not a Stieg Larsson-like thriller; it's a book about chopping, stacking, and burning wood that has sold more than 200,000 copies in Norway and Sweden and has been a fixture on the best seller lists there for more than a year. Norwegian Wood provides useful advice on the rustic hows and whys of taking care of your heating needs, but it's also a thoughtful attempt to understand man's age-old predilection for stacking wood and passion for open fires.

Butangen, Norway, the years before WWII: Astrid Hekne has inherited the fighting spirit of her grandmother, who was a protector of the mythic Sister Bells that had once hung in the village’s church. The once-traitorous priest Kai Schweigaard, now in his eighties, is wondering how his death, prophesied in a centuries-old tapestry, will come true. Schweigaard tries to understand the myths about the Night of the Scourge, which, according to old village beliefs, is the night when the known world will fall and the Earth will be scraped down to bare rock. Then Norway is occupied by the Nazis.

Bjørn Erliksen lives a peaceful life on Norway’s west coast and has never considered himself anything but a farmer. But when Nazi Germany invades, and his country’s ill-equipped military collapses in less than two months, it falls on him and other ordinary Norwegians to fight back.

From the early days of prehistoric Scandinavia to the rule of the legendary seafaring Vikings, Norway has a vast a colorful history filled with sagas, alliances, and a rise to becoming a wealthy economic powerhouse in the modern age. Now, this book unveils the secrets of this amazing and beautiful country, from the time of the Vikings through the Middle Ages, the Napoleonic Wars, and Norway’s journey to its place in the modern world.

Raider Bride is headed to Tromøy, where Ragnhild hopes to gain Åsa's aid in taking Gausel. But the voyage takes them through perilous waters where enemies lie in wait, and Ragnhild carries a secret that could ruin everything. On Tromøy, an ancient evil wakes and a forgotten enemy gains strength, threatening to destroy all those Åsa loves.

My Men is a harrowing story about an enigmatic historical figure: Brynhilde Belle Gunness, a Norwegian servant girl turned serial killer after emigrating to America in the wake of a hopeless love affair at home. She thought she was following her sister to a better life, but what she found in America was a society ruled by the same rigid moral codes that oppressed her at home. Consumed by desire, and thirsty for the love and recognition she never received during her impoverished formative years, Belle seeks revenge on the world that broke her.

An audiobook adaptation of Iben's classic, When We Dead Awaken. First published in 1899 it is a despairing and dream-like play rich in symbolism. This was also Ibsen's final play written at the time of his return to Norway after an extended absence a theme which is also reflected in the plot and it is interesting to speculate how much of Ibsen is contained in the lead character, the sculptor, Rubek, including Ibsen's own relationship with his masterpiece, A Doll's House.

This story tells the gripping adventure of a Viking called Borghild, and a Norwegian forest cat called Whit Freya. They sail to Scotland, the Isle of Man, and then England.