Gaute Heivoll

The Crystal of the Sky

The Crystal of the Sky is a quietly powerful and profoundly moving novel about a life that might otherwise have been forgotten. Like John Williams’ Stoner, it reveals how even the most unremarkable existence can hold extraordinary depth.

The story is inspired by a man who lived on a small farm in the south of Norway. When he died, almost nothing was remembered about him. The only trace he left behind was a short poem, ending with the line about walking upon Heaven’s crystal – an image that inspired the novel’s title.

We meet Tomas, the village postman. Everyone knows who he is, yet few know anything about him. Day after day he follows the same route, carrying letters and fragments of other people’s lives in his mailbag. His brother Salve died in a tragic accident in 1897. Why did nothing ever come of Anne Karin, the neighbour girl he once dreamed of? And what does the schoolteacher Nils see in this quiet figure? The Crystal of the Sky is the first step in a broader literary project, portraying modest and quiet lives, and showing how even the seemingly ordinary can hold extraordinary depth.