67-year-old Trond has moved from the city to a rustic cabin by the Swedish border, in an isolated part of eastern Norway. After the death of his wife and sister, he has no great ambitions for the rest of his life, which he plans to live out as quietly as possible in his new country retreat. But an impromptu meeting with his neighbour, Lars, forces him to reflect on events that took place some 50 years earlier, in the summer of 1948. A summer that was to have a profound impact on the rest of his life, although Trond knew nothing of it at the time. A beautiful, soberly written yet deeply felt novel about youth, love, loss and life itself, Nordic in tone and setting, but universal in the themes in encompasses.
The winner of various prestigious literary awards, including the 2007 Dublin IMPAC Award, Out Stealing Horses was also named in Time magazine as one of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007. The book has sold 230,000 copies worldwide and spent 70 weeks on the Norwegian bestseller list. The English edition was translated by Anne Born.
Praise for Out Stealing Horses:
“A gripping account of such originality as to expand the reader’s own experience of life.” Thomas McGuane, The New York Times Book Review
“From the first terse sentences of this mesmerizing Norwegian novel about youth, memory, and, yes, horse stealing, you know you’re in the hands of a master storyteller.” Newsweek
“Petterson’s spare and deliberate prose has astonishing force.” The New Yorker
“Petterson tells a Bergman-esque tale of a solitary man coming to grips with his past…” Entertainment Weekly
“That’s the effect of Per Petterson’s award-winning novel: It hits you in the heart at close range.” Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered
“A masterpiece of tough romance . . . ” The New York Sun