Winner of the Tarjei Vesaas’ First Book Prize 2008

The new and the old is poised against each other in the tiny village of Fræna, where we are introduced to a number of politically very incorrect people: the local politician cheating his way to election victory, the mob marching towards the mayor’s house, and the boy suspecting that his parents are putting sleeping medicine into his food. Meet young men who try to drive away from Fræna, who kill others while driving and try living with it, or who hunt asylum seekers through the woods.

In Lars Petter Sveen’s Fræna, the dead rise in the middle of the day, and the inhabitants carry dark secrets. Politics, fairy tales and horror stories merge. It’s hard to say which is more eerie.

Lars Petter Sveen proved himself a writer of great talent with his debut, a short story collection mixing statements both distanced and strangely bold, unsentimental, bone dry wit and grand descriptions of nature and light.

Praise for Driving from Fræna:

“A stylistically confident short story writer makes his debut with excellent results”
( Aftenposten)

“Concise, sharp and well written […] proves that something is about to change when it comes to the political awareness of the younger generation”
( Dagbladet)