AshehougAgency

The Bite

Winner of the 2008 Norwegian Department of Culture's children's book award.

Jonas Nilsen is counting down the days until his mom is returning. Mom has been in prison since he was eight. He is fourteen now. During these years, Jonas has covered up the truth to her, made up stories and created his own reality.

She is finished serving her sentence, and Jonas knows he has to tell her the truth. That he is not popular, that he is not in the student council, that school is going badly and that his girlfriend Bobby does not exist.

Life has not been easy for Jonas. He and his dad have not been getting along well. There is a lot at stake and it becomes so important that mom understands.

Click here for English sample translation.

Praise for THE BITE:

"Hagerup fires at this reader from the most unexpected corners. The story quivers and whirls, the prose is surprising and original. The leaps of thought, the throwaway remarks, the absurd dialogues … Full of risk and completely unique."
(Jaap Lest, Netherlands)

“ The Bite uncovers the small and almost invisible breaks in communication lines between humans – the lines that can turn a situation upside down in a second. Jonas is the one who continuously provokes others – to his own confuse. The Bite is a gripping book that works well for young readers. But Hello! Are there any adults there? Who would like to understand more of the strange adolescents? You should read this book too!”
(Fredrikstad Blad)

"Hilde Hagerup’s novel The Bite is in a class of its own amongst this year’s children and young reader's books. Hilde Hagerup has managed to create a balance between the black and the humoristic that goes all the way. She does not hide the darker sides: the destruction, the hopelessness, the ugliness and the cruelty. But she does it with a humor that neither undermines nor takes away the pain, but still creates a counterweight towards the hopelessness. Because the humor is not weaker, and is not less apparent than the pain in this novel. This is what creates the unique intensity in it…The Bite is one of these rare novels that make you teary no matter where it goes. Sometimes the tears are caused by laughter. Other times it is caused by the pain in the story”
(Hamar Arbeiderblad)

”Hilde Hagerup’s novel The Bite has a violent, dense energy, like she is firing off a literary gunshot … She cultivates the scarce form so that the cut off sentences establish the harness of the story … The book is leaden, but nevertheless a good read because Hagerup is able to project the literary qualities of the story”
(Aftenposten)

Click here for English sample translation.

First published: Aschehoug Children & Young Adults, 2007
Hilde Hagerup: Biography and bibliography

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