Brit Bildøen

Seven days in August

In the course of seven days in August, Sofie and Otto Krohg-Iversen, a married couple, experience a series of trivial mishaps. Each of these incidents in itself is not so serious, but they reveal large and small cracks both in their marriage and the community around them. Is everything falling apart? Or are these mishaps reminders of a greater catastrophe in life?

The novel is set several years into the future. Eight years have passed since the terrorist attack, a cataclysm that had hit Sofie and Otto badly. At that time they had devised a plan for survival, strategies that have kept them and their relationship going until this week in August. But for how long can the grief process be a joint effort? Is sorrow something that can be shared for only a short period, and thereafter something you have to live alone with?

While rainstorms ravage Oslo and conflicts at work accumulate, it becomes clear to Sofie and Otto that their life strategies will have to be re-evaluated and the important questions can no longer be avoided.