Silje Bekeng-Flemmen

Into Our Dark House

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.

Into Our Dark House is a story about idealism and reality, good intentions and badly concealed prejudices. About the ability to include and the will to exclude. But also about wishing to belong and the dream of a perfect life.