Tore Kvæven
Red Dust II

When everything one has previously known burns and falls, where can one turn? When defeat is at the door, what is left to fight for? And is there still a future in these landscapes of doom?

The year is 2060. The enemy is advancing. Lieutenant General John Arnhem no longer believes the war can be won. Disillusioned, he heads out into the Tanami Desert for one last mission: to try to evacuate his grandparents and the livestock on the farm where he grew up, and thus also save the remnants of the life he once knew.

Brett Hammersley has fought as an idealist in Arnhem's regiment, but the war is tearing her apart. In the hope of finding what once mattered, she too tries to turn away and get away through this last mission. But even in the desolation of the Tanami Desert, it is no longer possible to escape the war.

At the same time, Australia's top leader, Foreign Minister Eden Elenia Caitleen, is faced with an inhuman choice. In this decision, she stands alone, and her time is running out.

Kvæven has an exceptionally vivid and vibrant language; he engages the reader’s senses from the very first sentence, effortlessly alternating between the disturbingly grotesque and the poetically dreamlike. His depictions of landscapes, animals, and nature are captivating and beautiful.

Stavanger Aftenblad, about Red Dust I

Here are unusually sensuous and almost introspective descriptions of animals and landscapes. Beautiful in all its horror.

Bok365, About Red Dust I

An unusually vivid and beautiful novel.

Fædrelandsvennen, About Red Dust I

Tore Kvæven

Tore Kvæven
Tommy Ellingsen

Tore Kvæven (b. 1969) made his debut in 2011 with Hard Is the Law of My Land. He received the most prestigious literary award Brageprisen in 2018 for his novel When the land darkens. Kvæven works as a school teacher and sheep farmer. In 2022, he received the prestigious Stig Sæterbakken Memorial Award.

Rights sold to

See updated rights here.

Other titles

Hard Is the Law of My Land (2014)
When the land darkens (2018)

Foreign rights

Northern Stories
Agent: Astrid Dalaker
[email protected]
+47 99 69 19 50

Awards

The Brage Prize, 2018

Edited September 11, 2024 by Northern Stories