Kjersti Halvorsen - Selected Title Author

What is your book about?

The book is about Unn, a psychologist who finds herself reassigned to an administrative role within the hospital following a string of scandals during her time working as a therapist. She gets a second chance as a “power user” of the hospital’s new digital initiative: an AI conversational therapist named Gro who is meant to improve the efficiency of the clinics and provide treatment to more patients faster. At a training for power users, she meets Torjus, a troubled doctor who wrestles in his spare time. Unn longs for an intimate and genuine relationship and the two recognize something damaged in each other. But at difficult moments, Gro is the one she talks to, and with the need to be understood by someone, she allows her to get closer and closer.

What inspired you to write this book?

I worked in the healthcare industry for some time and was interested in how to help in the best way possible, including through how healthcare services and society are organized. The consequences of increased efficiency both for patients and those working within the system concerned me. What constitutes good treatment, and what does a person who’s struggling need? What makes a relationship intimate and healing, and when does it become destructive and manipulative? What risks do you take by trusting and letting someone get close to you? I wanted to explore this in a story about a healthcare worker struggling in her own life, and who is willing to go to great lengths to feel good enough as an employee and as a human being. It became a book about digitization and health, but also about trauma, loneliness, and obsession.

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