The Twelfth House
Nominated for the Brage Prize
Nominated for the NRK Listeners’ Prize
Molli is back in her hometown for the first time in several years. Her brother Bill is in a coma, having been found badly beaten next to the cold, lifeless body of his friend Ib, who still had a needle between his toes.
Sitting by Bill’s bedside, Molli revisits her childhood. It all begins many years earlier, when her mother Karla falls in love with Frank, and moves in with him, together with Molli and Bill. From one day to the next, their relatively poor, but otherwise normal existence, is replaced by the rigid regime and abusive behavior of the controlling, tyrannical Frank.
But when Karla and Frank take off for the summer, leaving the children at home under the inept supervision of their uncle, brutal control gives way to the chaos and dangers of unrestrained freedom.
Full of terror, but also of surprising beauty, The Twelfth House is a raw, moving novel about the loneliness and vulnerability of a neglected child.
