Clearing Out

Linguist Elinor Smidt receives an unexpected offer to take an academic post in Finnmark. As part of a research project on dying languages she is assigned to study the language of the coast Sami. The writer Helene Uri also receives an unexpected call. The voice in the other end introduces herself as a relative. During their conversation Helene Uri learns that her own great grandfather belonged to the coast Sami people. That is something her family has never spoken about. One story is fiction, the other is fact. Together they constitute a gripping novel about southerners and northern lights, about language and family, about words and belonging. And about how things and people can disappear forever.

Critical acclaim:

"Convincing solemnity and stylish simplicity" ?Aftenposten

"From a literary point of view, this is one of Helene Uri’s most exciting books (…) executed with a living presence and an inquisitiveness that is bound to spellbind."? Hamar Arbeiderblad

"Helene Uri's work fascinates and moves me, not least the way in which she describes and  processes her own grieving, both when it comes to all the things she never got to know, and when she experiences her own mother's quiet journey out of life"
Tønsbergs blad

"Dying language, lively story ... Good and compelling ... This time [Uri] shows us the construction of the story, and it still comes alive. That is very well done. And as always in a book by Helene Uri, there are lots of things to learn, especially about languages."
Dag og Tid

"an intricate book on kinship and language, and how death affects both ... in spite of a lack of big and bombastic events, the fervour and zest make you read on. The documenting of the most quiet and natural thing in human lives, the final sleep, is fascinating ... Uri draws up an enticing picture of [Northern places] constantly steeped in darkness."
Dagsavisen

Foreign sales:

Hungary, L'Harmattan Könyvkiadó és Terjesztö Kft.