Dag Johan Haugerud

Easy Atonal Pieces for Children

Enkle atonale stykker for barn

A teacher leaves a house in a town by the foot of the Alps. She hurries to the library, where she passes an elderly man, who continues to the swimming hall, where he meets a young man. In 24 hours the story runs from person to person throughout central Europe.

One of these people is looking for a dissertation on Tom and the Rabbit, the popular children’s book that Eivind Ness published before his serious, bestselling novels. Erik Andersen, a writer of the more inaccessible kind, wants to write a biography of Ness because of the children’s book. But he needs the cooperation of the author’s widow.

Years later, an older charity fundraiser stands in a doorway, wondering if she will recognize the young man and woman living in the house.

A novel in three independent, but interconnected parts, Easy Atonal Pieces for Children is as unpredictable and idiosyncratic as it is entertaining.

Shortlisted for the P2 Listeners’ Novel Prize 2016.

Haugerud enkle atonale stykker for barn hd

‘… a real work of art, consisting of brilliant parts within a carefully conceived whole, and composed in an elegant and sophisticated manner by a brilliant writer’

Dag og Tid

‘… a shining gem this autumn’

Dagens Næringsliv

‘A thought-provoking novel on art, truth, power and powerlessness by a writer with an unusually keen eye for our insecurity’

Vårt Land
Haugerud, dag johan photo baard henriksen web bw
Photo: Baard Henriksen

Dag Johan Haugerud (b. 1964) is a librarian, writer and filmmaker. He made his literary debut in 1999 with the warmly received novel Something with Nature. His second novel, If You Are Very Strong, You Must Also Be Very Kind, was published in French by Gaïa. Easy Atonal Pieces for Children is his fourth novel.