Tonje Røed

Lovely prospects

Skjønne utsikter

Newlywed Emma deserves only the best. That’s why she has left everything behind and moved with her husband Andreas to Venezuela, where her new upper-class existence offers everything she ever dreamt of. She loves the sweet desserts, the shopping sprees and the cold wine; she even loves the danger she runs of being mugged in the streets – it makes her feel valuable, treasured.

But soon, Andreas can no longer satisfy Emma’s needs for love and attention and in her hunt for better options, Emma sets off a spiral of destruction that sucks in everyone around her.

A distorted, Bovaryish portrait of a self-absorbed woman, Lovely Prospects is a mercilessly heartbreaking novel, written with intensity and humor of the darkest kind.

Oktober 2011

Photo: Clara Copley

Tonje Røed (b 1972) entered the literary scene in 1999 with the short story collection Ferie. Lovely Prospects is her second novel.