by Thomas Enger
He’d bought himself a wok and finally started to use the gas cooker that had stood unused for as long as he’d lived in the flat. For a long time, he’d had an issue with flames. He’d stir-fried meat, chicken and vegetables – he’d even used his wok for fish.
He’d gone for walks.
He thought. About Iver and about Jonas. About Trine.
About what he would do now.
But there was one thing he still hadn’t done, something that he both looked forward to and dreaded. Which was why he decided to do it as soon as he got home from the funeral.
First he went and bought a bottle of cognac – the kind that he’d been drinking on the evening Jonas died. When he got home, he opened the bottle and poured himself a generous glass, and put it down on top of the piano. He lit a candle and sat down.
Before he opened the lid and looked at his old friends, black and white, 88 in total, he closed his eyes and sang the tune in his head, the song he’d written for Jonas the night that Nora had told him she was pregnant.
The night when his whole world changed and nothing would ever be the same again.
Henning looked at the glass, the light, the wall the piano stood against. He savoured a mouthful, swallowed, felt it burn down his throat, into his chest, forced himself to put his lips to the glass again. Swallowed. Thought. Closed his eyes and contemplated some more. Everything that lay behind him, ahead of him.
In front of him.
He put down the glass and looked at the places on his hands where the flames had got him and melted his skin like plastic. The scars had started to fade.
He wondered what he was going to do with those hands. They were scarred now. Damaged.
But they still worked, he thought.
They could still play a melody.
‘Lullaby’,
an original piece for piano, composed and performed by Thomas Enger for Henning’s son, Jonas, is available to listen to here: https://soundcloud.com/thomasenger/lullaby.
Acknowledgements
I have spent six years of my life writing the Henning Juul series. Six years that, in many ways, have changed my life, not just my hair (yep, it’s got greyer and thinner). It has been a long and strenuous journey, and I would never have reached my destination without help. A huge thanks to Kari Marstein and Trude Rønnestad for all the meetings, emails, thoughts and input, not to mention support. This is also true of my Norwegian publisher, Gyldendal. Thanks for everything. Thank you for giving my dreams wings.
Thanks also to everyone who, over the course of these five books, has answered the questions I have had, big or small. I am so grateful for your help.
A special thank-you to all you lovely translators and publishers out there, around the world who have helped the Henning Juul series reach even more readers. It has been, and still is, a joy, a privilege and an honour to represent you, and to be represented by you.
As this is an English edition I would like to pay special tribute to Kari Dickson for doing such an excellent translation, to West Camel, for taking such good care of the end product, and to Mark Swan for designing one of the most gorgeous cover jackets. I’m going to frame it and put it up on my wall.
This book would not have seen the English light of day had it not been for Karen Sullivan. Karen, you truly are one of a kind. Not only are you every author’s dream publisher, you’re also a brilliant editor, amazingly kind and generous, and you’re super-duper company as well. Thanks for making me part of Team Orenda. I love all you lovely people.
Anyone who subjects themselves to the mental rigour required to write a book (try five, which all have to correspond) is dependent on the people who cheer them on. I am fortunate enough to have had many, many people along the way. Thank you for all the emails with kind words and smileys. Thank you for asking when the next book will be published. Thank you for all your good wishes.
My greatest thanks go to my family – Benedicte, Theodor and Henny – for putting up with me throughout these years.
Thomas Enger
Oslo, December 2017
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas Enger is a former journalist. He made his debut with the crime novel Burned in 2010, which became an international sensation before publication. Burned is the first in a series of five books about the journalist Henning Juul, which delves into the depths of Oslo’s underbelly, skewering the corridors of dirty politics and nailing the fast-moving world of 24-hour news. Rights to the series have been sold to 28 countries to date. In 2013 Enger published his first book for young adults, a dark fantasy thriller called The Evil Legacy, for which he won the U-prize (best book Young Adults). Killer Instinct, another YA suspense novel, was published in Norway in 2017. Rights have been sold to Germany and Iceland. Enger also composes music, and he lives in Oslo.
Follow him on Twitter @EngerThomas
on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thomas.enger.77
or visit: thomasenger.net
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Kari Dickson grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, but spent most of her summers in Norway with grandparents who couldn’t speak English, so spoke Norwegian from an early age. She went on to read Scandinavian Studies at UCL. While working in theatre in London, she was asked to do literal translations of two Ibsen plays, which fuelled her interest in Norwegian literature and led to an MA in Translation at the University of Surrey. Having worked initially as a commercial translator, including some years at the central bank of Norway, she now concentrates solely on literature. Her portfolio includes literary fiction, crime, non-fiction and plays. Her translation of Roslund & Hellström’s Three Seconds won the CWA International Dagger in 2011. Kari currently teaches Norwegian language, literature and translation in the Scandinavian Studies department at the University of Edinburgh.
Copyright
Orenda Books
16 Carson Road
West Dulwich
London SE21 8HU
www.orendabooks.co.uk
First published in Norwegian as Banesår by Gyldendal, 2015
This edition published by Orenda Books, 2018
Copyright © Thomas Enger, 2015
English language translation copyright © Kari Dickson, 2017
Thomas Enger has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publishers.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–1–910633–99–1
eISBN 978–1–912374–00–7
This book has been translated with financial support from NORLA.
For sales and distribution, please contact [email protected]
