Synopses & Reviews
I was fourteen and a half when the Germans came. On that 9th April we woke to the roar of aeroplanes swooping so low over the roofs of the town that we could see the black iron crosses painted on the underside of their wings when we leaned out of the windows and looked up. In this exquisite novel, readers will find the crystalline prose and depth of feeling they adored in Out Stealing Horses, a literary sensation of 2007. A brother and sister are forced ever more closely together after the suicide of their grandfather. Their parents neglect leaves them wandering the streets of their small Danish village. The sister dreams of escaping to Siberia, but it seems increasingly distant as she helplessly watches her brother become more and more involved in resisting the Nazis.
Review
"A spare, lyrical novel from Norwegian author Petterson that possesses historical breadth and a remarkable sense of immediacy." Kirkus Reviews
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"The author of a story collection and an earlier novel, Norwegian writer Petterson is an outstanding talent. Highly recommended." Library Journal
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"Like Out Stealing Horses...this work coaxes readers into a sphere of loneliness with the precise prose and keen intellect of a masterful writer." Minneapolis Star Tribune
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"To Siberia succeeds in one of the greatest aims of fiction, to transport us to another time and place that make us see our world with clearer vision, and to recognize the similarities and differences of human nature, across time and distance." Dallas Morning News
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"[C]hronicles the coming of age of the younger sister in a family characterized by poverty and the bleak beauty of a landscape where frost seems to seep in 'after someone has hanged themselves or taken their life in some other way.'" Philadelphia Inquirer
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"Petterson creates humor alongside wild frozen seascapes, miraculous detail in clover and marram grass." Cleveland Plain Dealer
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"[A] darkly beautiful story, an evocation of the grim equanimity of the Danish people, the fierce and constant weather and the childish idea that we could possibly save each other from the world." Los Angeles Times
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"Petterson's writing is so exact and piercing that, like poetry, it distills her experiences and feelings into imagery that is powerful beyond its words." Seattle Times
Synopsis
In Danish Jutland, where the sea freezes over and the Nazis have yet to invade, a young girl dreams of going on a great journey to Siberia, while her brother, Jesper, yearns for the warmer climes of Morocco. With a staunchly Christian mother, a father who is an unsuccessful carpenter, and a grandfather who hangs himself in a cowshed, the relationship between brother and sister flourishes. Jesper has an originality that stands out in the small community, and his sister follows as they wend their way around the town in moonlit and daytime endeavors. The bond between them creates a warmth that grows through the cold and the dark clouds that threaten to overtake their dreams. As the narrator looks back, she reflects on the harsh realities of her life and the directions in which they ted her.
It is out of small and negligible things that a life may be composed, and the beauty of Per Petterson's narrative lies in the resonances of a Ere outwardly barren but so sharply etched, so charged with meaning.
Synopsis
I was fourteen and a half when the Germans came. On that 9th April we woke to the roar of aeroplanes swooping so low over the roofs of the town that we could see the black iron crosses painted on the underside of their wings when we leaned out of the windows and looked up.
In this exquisite novel, readers will find the crystalline prose and depth of feeling they adored in Out Stealing Horses, a literary sensation of 2007.
A brother and sister are forced ever more closely together after the suicide of their grandfather. Their parents' neglect leaves them wandering the streets of their small Danish village. The sister dreams of escaping to Siberia, but it seems increasingly distant as she helplessly watches her brother become more and more involved in resisting the Nazis.
About the Author
Per Petterson is the author of books including In the Wake, I Curse the River of Time, and Out Stealing Horses, which won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Norwegian Booksellers' Prize. The New York Times Book Review named it one of the 10 best books of the year. A former bookseller, Petterson lives in Oslo, Norway.