Jakob has a scar above his cheekbone and a dream of getting back his grandfather’s pawned pocket watch. His childhood friend Edith carries her scars on the inside – she is serving eight years for infanticide.

On the island of Håøya in the Oslo Fjord, 60 young women pack deadly explosives by day and are forced into prostitution by night.

With the Russian Revolution and World War I as a backdrop, Edith and Jakob meet again, and the novel paints an intense drama about freedom, forgiveness and the belief in a better life. It is about living freely and truthfully – and about what it costs to become who you are.

Away from the World is a magnificent novel about love, war and women’s lives – inspired by the true story of the explosives factory on Håøya during the First World War.