Nominated for the Critics’ Prize 2021

Late autumn, 1851: A young Henrik Ibsen arrives in Bergen, claiming that he has been hired by Ole Bull as a dramatic writer at the Norwegian Theatre. This comes as a surprise to the theater’s leadership and not least the well-bred director Herman Laading, who is forced to cooperate with the inexperienced, uptight Ibsen against his will. What follows is a dramatic tale of artistic disasters, colliding ideas of art, doppelgängers and a fatal duel under the descending star of romanticism.

The Murder of Henrik Ibsen is a rainy, burlesque novel about a still unfulfilled genius, and a decisive but little-known period in the life of the most outstanding person in Norwegian literary history.