The Guests by Agnes Ravatn – translated by Rosie Hedger
It started with a lie…
Married couple Karin and Kai are looking for a pleasant escape from their busy lives, and reluctantly accept an offer to stay in a luxurious holiday home in the Norwegian fjords.
Instead of finding a relaxing retreat, however, their trip becomes a reminder of everything lacking in their own lives, and in a less- than-friendly meeting with their new neighbours, Karin tells a little white lie…
#TheGuests #AgnesRavatn @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Against the backdrop of the glistening water and within the claustrophobic walls of the ultra-modern house, Karin’s insecurities blossom, and her lie grows ever bigger, entangling her and her husband in a nightmare spiral of deceits with absolutely no means of escape…
My Review
I was on the blog tour for The Seven Doors in 2020, so I was excited to read this. It’s very different. There are no missing persons, family secrets or shocking revelations. It’s not dark or horrifying, but the whole story is based on a lie, one which Karin tells and her husband Kai goes along with.
Karin is offered the opportunity to stay in a beautiful, modern cabin belonging to an old school friend (I use the term ‘friend’ loosely as Karin basically despises her), but Kai thinks it’s too good to refuse. It’s offered as thanks for a favour, but Karin believes it makes her beholden to the owner.
Then basically one day, Karin meets one of the neighbours, Per Sinding, who happens to be married to one of Karin’s favourite authors Hilma Ekhult. For some bizarre reason she tells Per that they own the cabin, and also lies about what she does for a living. Kai then has to back up everything she says and tell more lies about his own background.
But your lies will eventually catch you out. However, they are leaving soon, so none of it will matter. It’s a harmless little game isn’t it? Except they are invited over for dinner and it all starts to spiral out of control. What is does do, as well as reveal their insecurities, is to show up the gaps and mistrust in their own marriage. An interesting study of human behaviour and shows why honesty is the best policy.
A great translation by the way – I often forgot I wasn’t reading in the original language.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Agnes Ravatn is a Norwegian author and columnist. She made her literary début with the novel Week 53 in 2007. Since then she has written a number of critically acclaimed and award-winning essay collections, including Standing, Popular Reading and Operation Self-discipline, in which she recounts her experience with social-media addiction. Her debut thriller, The Bird Tribunal, won the cultural radio P2’s listener’s prize in addition to The Youth’s Critic’s Prize, and was made into a successful play in Oslo in 2015. The English translation, published by Orenda Books in 2016, was a
WHSmith Fresh Talent Pick, winner of a PEN Translation Award, a BBC Radio Four ‘Book at Bedtime’ and shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and the 2017 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. Critically acclaimed The Seven Doors was published in 2020. Agnes lives with her family in the Norwegian countryside.
About Orenda Books
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
