Almost Autumn
Nærmere høst
Ilse is 15 years old and lives at Biermannsgate 10 in the Grunerløkka district of Oslo. One afternoon while her parents are asleep, she sneaks out of the house in a thin summer dress. It is October and the cold autumn wind tugs at her dress as she walks down Toftes gate. But she doesn’t feel the cold. The only thing that means anything to her right now is that she is going to meet Hermann. The year is 1942. Soon everything will change.
Marianne Kaurin’s debut novel is told by five different voices, including that of 15-year-old Ilse. Kaurin writes matter-of-factly and with poetic empathy about how everyday life during the war changes in the most dramatic way when Ilse’s family is broken up and deported by the ship ‘Danube’ to Auschwitz.
Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award 2018, the Ministry of Culture’s First Book Prize 2012 and the Young Adult Prize 2013.
“Through a language with exceptionally good flow and with many nuances Kaurin succeeds in creating a political story which is relevant far beyond the Second World War. Her well-formulated language and well-timed changes in viewpoint between the characters inhabiting the novel contribute to breathing new life into the historical novel for youth.”
-From the nomination for the Ministry of Culture’s Awards for Children’s Literature.
