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Jon Fosse
Vaim

Vaim is the first of three books about the fictional small town of Vaim: Vaim, Vaim Hotel, and Vaim Weekly. Each book is about different characters.

As Vaim opens, Jatgeir has come from Vaim to the big city, Bjørgvin, on his boat, Eline. He wants to buy a needle and thread but is cheated – twice. Yet strangely, he finds and comes home with Eline herself, the long-lost love of his teenage years, who has left her husband Frank. The story of this love triangle is a book about little boats and big boats, love and death, passive men and an unusually determined woman. There’s no use trying to argue with Eline.

'True to himself, yet somehow renewed. Nobel laureate Jon Fosse pulls it off once again […] This is feel-good Fosse with a twist.'

NRK, 6/6 stars

'Nobel winner Fosse centers this spectacular story of loneliness, love, and death on three linked characters living in small-town Norway […] This is unforgettable.'

Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

'[…] a new novel that captivates the reader. An original story about men without willpower, where time and space are relative dimensions.'

Bergens Tidende, 6/6 stars

'How do you follow up a Nobel Prize? Jon Fosse knows the answer. […] All the repetitions, the language coiling and winding through constant echoes, almost like wild ivy in literary form. And then, of course, the recognizable doppelgänger motif […] Oh yes, this is hardcore Jon Fosse!'

VG, 5/6 stars

Jon Fosse

Agnete Brun

Nobel Prize-winner Jon Fosse (b. 1959), is widely considered one of the most important writers of our time. For almost forty years, he has written novels, plays, poems, stories, essays, and children’s books. His award-winning work has been translated into more than fifty languages and his plays have been staged over a thousand times all over the world.

Jon Fosse grew up in Strandebarm, a small village in the western part of Norway, he now lives in the Grotten, an honorary residence in Oslo, as well as in Hainburg, Austria, and Frekhaug, Norway.

Fosse was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023 and has received numerous prizes, both in Norway and internationally through the years.