Into Our Dark House
By Silje Bekeng-Flemmen
The idealistic Alice, her husband Kim and their kids move into Kim’s childhood home in Åsgård, a well-to-do neighbourhood in a part of town that is otherwise weighed down with…
Description
The idealistic Alice, her husband Kim and their kids move into Kim’s childhood home in Åsgård, a well-to-do neighbourhood in a part of town that is otherwise weighed down with challenges of social inequality. Åsgård has the only well-renowned school in their part of town, and when Veslemøy, Alice and Kim’s daughter, is enrolled there, Alice hopes that the family will get a sense of belonging that she has always missed.
But why is Kim so evasive when meeting people from his past? Why does his and Alice’s teenage son Emil stop showing up at practice? And what, exactly, is it that lurks in the garden at night?
When changes to the school districts are suggested and Veslemøy is moved to the notorious neighbouring school, the happy façade of the family crumbles. Amongst Åsgårdians, a riot is brewing; dark secrets are revealed; principles will no longer hold. Alice makes a decision she’d never imagined herself making.
Praise
The mythical bleeds into the book’s everyday realism: A vivid, fairy tale-like uneasiness adds an air of stirring ancient, wild powers to this socially aware satire. A unique, enjoyable reading experience.
Leif Bull, Dagens Næringsliv[In this book,] Bekeng-Flemmen achieves an exciting and sharp depiction of Norwegian racism and double standards. By incorporating elements of the thriller genre, Bekeng-Flemmen explores every crack and crevice of the logic and tensions in the villa owners’ perception of reality. This makes the depiction of double standards sting way more effectively than it would in a would-be-wise, moralistic novel about racism.
Ingeborg Misje Bergem, Vårt LandEveryone outside the well-to-do neighbourhood of Åsgård is easy prey in Bekeng-Flemmen’s eerie school district thriller.
Margunn Vikingstad, Morgenbladet
