Original title: Ørja
Author: Riikka Sandberg
Published: 2023
Publisher: Otava
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 395
Reading material:
English sample and synopsis
A fateful novel about friendship, passion and secrets buried in the sea from the end of the occupation of Norway till the 1970s.
1952. A gigantesque mail carrier lives on the island of Ørja with her boat-building father. His last boat is left unfinished, and the daughter takes on the task. The boat is sold to an island-dweller who is the subject of many chilling rumors.
1976. Tine arrives in Ørja to put up a traveling cinema. But what is even more interesting than the projector, is the wire recorder she finds in the shed. It talks of a tragic past that the island community has kept silent about.
A rebel. A spouse. A savior. A friend. A lover. How many lives can one person live? What happens when they collide?
”The novel is filled with fantastic nature descriptions. The author has written it with such detail, that the reader can sense the rippling of waves on the pier and the stormy swelling of the sea against the harsh rocks. [--] The colourful nature descriptions accompany the bleak human destinies which the reader follows with excitement until the end.”
Jari Olavi Hiltunen in Satakunnan kansa newspaper