“An exquisite little novel …”
Dagens Næringsliv
“Is it possible to write a biography, a collection of poems and a historical novel under a hundred pages long – in one and the same novel? (…) Mona Høvring can. And she proceeds to do it with an insistent unceremoniousness, without paying heed to the restrictions of genre or teasing the reader. She takes Camilla Collett’s writings, studies them thoroughly and picks out words, thoughts and observations with her own literary self-assurance. Camilla is recast sensitively and respectfully; redrawn in Høvring’s contemporary language, yet still retaining the diary-like first-person narrative. It’s both daring and original.”
6/6 stars, Drammens Tidende
“an original and peculiar little novel … Perhaps it is possible to resurrect a book, Mona Høvring gives it a good shot … In Høvring’s feather light and precise prose, the words become an homage to Collett, but it’s never sentimentally embracing … Naturally, it’s bold to “modernise” a classic like Camilla Collett, but in this case it has turned out an extraordinarily successful project.”
Dagsavisen
“Mona Høvring brings Camilla Collett’s memoirs Through the Long Nights into our times. Camilla’s Long Nights is a peculiar and thought-evoking little book … Stripped of comprehensive descriptions and details, what is left is what she finds to be the quintessence, short and naked. What she chooses to include becomes clearer, stories and thoughts are more lucid and illuminated in a new way”
Vårt Land
“Mona Høvring … a lyrical voice who is always herself … And Høvring writes, as nearly always, with a rare linguistic sensitivity, with exquisite and poetic tact – and makes the very simplest things glow, shine.”
Stavanger Aftenblad
“Høvring assembles the rewritten partial sentences like a jigsaw puzzle. With great dignity, she has created a novel of fragment. Thus avoiding the pieces being left in a messy pile, and the whole picture being completed. There are still missing pieces. Thank God! … Linguistically, Camilla’s Long Nights is a challenging game across one hundred and fifty years”
Morgenbladet
