Louise wants to spend the summer in the city. She wants to party and go to concerts. But then she’s thrown out of her room – and when her grandmother also dies, Louise has no choice but to go home. Old friends get in touch, but Louise would rather not meet up with them. She doesn’t want to be reminded of Tormod – and the reason that she moved away.

Debut author Ane Barmen has written a beautiful, poignant and well-observed story of grief, sisterhood and irritating families – and who’s going to get hold of the beer.

Winner of the Brage Prize for best YA book 2019

Nominated for the 2020 Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize.

Praise

“Great debut from Ane Barmen…More books please!“
NRK

“The novel testifies to a great storytelling talent that I can’t wait to read more from.”
6 out of 6 stars, Dagbladet

“Everything comes to life in the multifaceted and sensual portrayals, whether they make want to you laugh, scream, or cry.”
Dag og Tid

“Ane Barmen’s fine book Dreams Mean Nothing is a substantial debut work.”
Aftenposten

“The book is a feast of emotions to read and, with the Brage Prize in its pocket, will now reach many more readers.”
VG

“A painful, tragic and exacting portrayal of feelings, family and about how frustrating it is to never escape one’s own mind [...] The language flows seamlessly and naturally, the dialogue is believable, and some sentences hit the reader right where it hurts the most.”
barnebokkritikk.no

“One of the novel’s characteristic strengths is that he reveals more than he narrates and explains.”
Periskop

“The 2019 Brage Prize for best children’s and youth book deservedly went to debutant Ane Barmen. Dreams Mean Nothing is a powerful novel that is just as good for adults as it is for teenagers.“
Fanaposten

“People whohave never lost anyone have no idea,” thinks Louise, the protagonist in Ane Barmen’s novel. Louise is characterized in all situations and every relationship by the loss of Tormod, the memories of what once was and the thought of what was never to be. Dreams Mean Nothing shows great insight into how grief can be experienced as lonely because, for others, life goes on – but for the one in grief, everything acquires a different colour. Still, the novel is strangely easy to read. It prefers to reveal how Louise thinks and acts rather than explaining how she does so, and its intensity is maintained with a linguistic momentum and a successful composition: the novel alternates between the present and flashbacks, and what has happened is gradually reeled in so that the reader eventually understands more of the present situation and Louise’s interplay with those around her. Her relationships with others – friends (old and new), family and Karen, whom she looks after at the nursing home – are central. Old Karen also bears sorrow, and the contrasts and concurrent parallels between the two – young and old, at opposite ends of life – provide new perspectives on Louise’s existence. The dialogue between the characters is natural and effortless, and the fine nuances between life and death, gravity and lightness, friendship and love, take young people’s life-worlds with the utmost seriousness.

Statement from the jury of the Brage Prize

Ane Barmen

Publications