Helga Flatland

A Modern Family

En moderne familie

«We’re leaving each other»

A quiet earthquake occurs as siblings Liv, Ellen and Håkon, along with their partners and children, are gathered around the dinner table somewhere on the outskirts of Rome to celebrate Dad and Granddad Håkon’s 70th birthday.
Shock and disbelief follow, as the three grown children try to cope with their parents decision to divorce. Not only does it affect their relationship as siblings, it echoes through the homes they have built for themselves, as well as forcing them to reconstruct their shared narrative about their upbringing and family history.
Helga Flatland masterfully conducts this story, voiced in turn by Liv, Ellen and Håkon, with rare psychological insight, humor and an almost filmatic narrative drive.
A Modern Family is a novel that will make you look at the people closest to you just a little more thoroughly.

Flatland en moderne familie hd

‘Cements her position as one of our most important, younger authors.’

Dagbladet, 6 out of 6 stars

‘There is a hint of Ingmar Bergman in this portrayal of a completely normal family, it delves deep and wrenches your heart.’

Adresseavisen, 6 out of 6 stars

‘There is a hint of Ingmar Bergman in this portrayal of a completely normal family, it delves deep and wrenches your heart.’

Adresseavisen, 6 out of 6 stars
Flatland, helga foto niklas lello
Photo: Niklas Lello

Helga Flatland (b. 1984) is already one of Norway’s most awarded and widely read authors. She has written four novels and a children’s book.
Of her trilogy “Stay if you can, leave if you must” the Danish Extrabladet wrote: Each novel on its own is a stylistic masterpiece that could, but shouldn’t be read separately. Together they form a phenomenal story.