The narrator of Stay with Me is a Norwegian writer living in Milan. A year has passed since the premature death of her Italian husband, when she falls in love. M is a plumber, fifteen years younger than her, but the connection between them is intense and of a kind she has never felt before. Then, as his vulnerability starts showing, so does his troubling rage.

She knows this rage from before. It was always present in her childhood, and it created an all-encompassing fear in her.

Within the main story, there is the story of Judith, who moved to Minneapolis with her husband Myrto. He looked at her with acceptance and softness, and they made a home together. And then he died.

In Stay with Me, Hanne Ørstavik returns to the theme of love, this time exploring how it can be intertwined with insecurity, fear and violence. How do you recognize love? What if your deeply rooted need to protect yourself also means shutting love out?