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The Second Heart

The Second Heart is a warm and honest story about being someone's next of kin – about alienation and longing for freedom.

Ever since she was a child, she has been preparing for her father's weak heart to stop. She doesn't want to be there when it happens, but she's also afraid every time he leaves the house, or the country. Ever since she was a child, she has thought don't go don't go don't go. Her Egyptian father almost dies, time and time again. And when she has become an adult, he needs her in new ways.

What responsibility do you have as a child, as offspring? Father and daughter travel between different countries, and swivel between closeness and distance. Does it have to do with their cultures, Egyptian and Norwegian, or is it who they are?

Ida Hegazi Høyer

Ida Hegazi Høyer
Photo: Oda Berby

Ida Hegazi Høyer (b. 1981) has written a number of critically acclaimed novels. She was named one of Norway's ten best young authors (Morgenbladet) and has received the Bjørnson Scholarship and the EU Prize for Literature.

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Edited September 22, 2025 by Cappelen Damm Agency