People Who Hate Local History
Folk som hater lokalhistorie
In Stor-Elvdal valley there are many types of people, many types of houses, many types of God and perhaps also a special type of goldeneye duck that nests by the river. And there are people who hate local history.
On Gunnarsmoen, Gunn Smedplassen’s elderly father Ingemar is acting strange. As a new virus sweeps the world, she leaves Oslo behind and drives all those miles north to check up on him, only to realise that things are far worse than she expected. Meanwhile, in the house next door, her childhood best friend Pelle is on sick leave from his job as a snowplow driver on Highway 3, while his impulsive, green-haired teenage daughter Michelle threatens to wreak more chaos.
Gunn and Pelle were once inseparable, but haven’t spoken a word to each other since they were sixteen. A matter involving damp firewood leads Gunn to knock on Pelle’s door, which triggers a chain reaction of abominable secrets and old grievances. Once Gunn had a sister and a mother, and once Pelle had a mother who actually could remember things, and a grandmother who left for the big city and returned home pregnant and unwed.
People Who Hate Local History is modern folklore from rural Norway: an intricate, luminous tableau of grief, forgiveness and redemption. Equally quirky and insightful, this is a big-hearted dramedy from a storyteller that has been compared to both Vigdis Hjorth and Elizabeth Strout.
‘Tyra Teodora Tronstad’s novel is full of vitality. Even though the book’s packed with tragedies. Drowning. Amputation. Pandemic. It’s also full of people. Contrary to what the intriguing title People Who Hate Local History insinuates, the novel is buoyant local history in the best way possible.’
NRK
