Ida Hegazi Høyer

The Surgeon

Kirurgen

The talented surgeon Henrik Wold has organized his life around his career and is now aiming for the department’s chief position. Life is quite simple for Henrik – until a young patient develops inexplicable complications after a standard procedure. For the first time in his professional life, he feels insecure, and the pressure evolves around him, both at work and at home. What happens when someone who pictures himself as invincible makes a mistake? What is revealed when the façade starts to crack? When does the surgeon’s pragmatic cynicism turn into destructiveness? And what is a human life worth?

With a brilliant take on human psychology, and a trained eye for comic interactions, Ida Hegazi Høyer takes us along on a two-week downhill journey in Henrik Wold’s life.

Nominated for the Listeners’ Novel Prize 2022

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‘A razor-sharp portrait of a young surgeon’s crushing fall.’

Dagsavisen

‘Hardly have I seen weirder, more delicious sentences on a book page this past year.’

Klassekampen

‘… teeming with phrases so precise that they shine like bright steel.’

Dag og Tid

‘A highlight this year.’

Morgenbladet
Hegazi ida svein finneide
Photo: Svein Finneide

Ida Hegazi Høyer (b. 1981) made her debut in 2012 with the novel Under the World and quickly became a leading voice in contemporary Norwegian literature. In 2015 she was named one of Norway’s 10 most promising young writers by the newspaper Morgenbladet. In 2016, her novel Forgive Me won the EU Prize of Literature. She is the author of 7 novels and one collection of stories. Her books have been translated into 11 languages. The Surgeon was nominated for the Listeners’ Novel Prize 2022.