2025
Anton is in anger management therapy. Not because he wants to, but because he has to, if he wants to have any chance of shared custody of his sons. Something has happened, and if he wants to move on with his life, it has to be on his ex-wife’s terms.
Ebba is trying to keep her family together while what once gave her life meaning is gradually slipping away. She is a feminist and a school marching band conductor, married to an uncompromising man, mother of two adult daughters who still need more than she can give.
Birgitte is a faded beauty and the marching band’s jack-of-all-trades. Her children have moved out, her husband’s enthusiasm is suffocating, and her body is changing. For the first time in her life, she feels invisible. Then she meets Anton.
Nowhere Fast is a novel about how power and powerlessness are negotiated in relationships. Through a microcosm of volunteer work for the marching band, dinners and everyday moments, the novel shows how we live in the tension between duty and care, defence and guilt, while the big things rage around us – and the little things still demand attention.
'Flatland hits the right note.’ […] Flatland has a unique ability to say something universal through the seemingly trivial, without becoming either pompous or sentimental. That is precisely what elevates Nowhere Fast from being a very good novel to an exceptional one.'
'Exquisitely crafted. […] The literary patchwork is impressively well sewn together, precise and aptly seen […]'
'Should be on the reading list for couples therapy. Most people will probably recognise traits from their own relationships in this sharp and very funny novel.'
Helga Flatland
Photo: Agnete Brun
