I am alive, daddy the day of terror

Siri Marie Seim Sønstelie attended her first Labour Party Youth (AUF) camp on Utøya in July 2011 when mayhem broke loose. Bullets flew over her head – but she survived. Meanwhile, on the mainland, her father, the journalist Erik Sønstelie, tried to sort out a chaos of feelings, his fear, how to handle next of kin, the press …

In the book, Siri talks about the joy over finally being able to attend the famous AUF camp on Utøya. She realizes why Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has described the place as his “childhood paradise”, and she talks about solidarity, commitment, football games and long summer nights of playing cards. For Siri, who is 20 years old and about to start her politics and human rights studies at university, this is exactly what Utøya is – paradise. Until a man dressed in a police uniform enters the island and starts to shoot. The AUF summer camp turns from heaven to hell in seconds as Siri tries to escape over slippery rocks, sharp cliffs and dead bodies.
I’m alive, Daddy is a true story from the day of the terror attacks in Oslo and Utøya on July 22, 2011. The book tells the unique story of Siri and Erik. It also provides a wider perspective on the attacks that changed Norway. Through different sources, we follow the perpetrator’s last preparations and execution of the worst attack on Norwegian society since World War 2.
At the core of the story, however, is the strong father-daughter relationship that makes this a highly powerful book.

Schibsted Forlag 2011
International edition: 305 pages, incl. photos.

So far sold to: Denmark, Iceland and Sweden