Tina Åmodt - Selected Title Author
We are happy to present our selected title author Tina Åmodt. She has written The Other Mother (original title: Den andre moren). The book is one of NORLA’s Selected Titles of the spring 2024.
What inspired you to write this book?
On June 25th, 2022, there was a terrorist attack during Pride Week in Oslo. I already knew that I wanted to write about a kind of queer vulnerability in my new novel, but after the attack, it became clear that what I wanted to do was stage a character who didn’t just feel anger and shock, but who rather pursued the extremely uncomfortable thought: “What if the people who hate us are right?” And here, I was thinking primarily of those who are skeptical of same-sex couples being allowed to have children. Faced with such attitudes, it’s natural to compensate by becoming furious and indignant or extremely self-satisfied and positive – but then it’s as if you’re depriving yourself of the chance to engage in critical and nuanced thinking. And I won’t accept that. I didn’t want to write a happy-go-lucky representation of being a queer parent. I wanted to write a whole person and include all the murkiness that swirls up when you try to paint a picture of someone’s inner life.
What is your book about?
I could answer motherhood and co-parenting, or maybe doubt and infidelity, internalized homophobia, and the European fertility industry. Above all, however, it’s an in-depth portrait of a woman grappling with shame, forbidden thoughts, and the inevitable repercussions that come to the surface when you lie to and deceive your loved ones.
Read more
See full presentation of the book here
Read more about the author here
See all NORLA’s Selected Titles for the spring 2024 here
