AshehougAgency

David's Brother

His family having believed he was dead, David returns to his bourgeois home. His younger brother, Frans, is somehow awakened by David's return, they become friends for a short while, and David confides in him about life. David is suffering from leukaemia, and Frans witnesses his brother's slow journey towards death and his opposition to their parents' beliefs. At the same time, Frans discovers dawning erotic feelings in himself.

Praise for David's Brother:

"a small book, strangely filled with silence, a portrait of a 16-year-old crossing the line between dream and life (...) It is relieving to read something youthful making so little racket."
(Johan Borgen, Dagbladet)

"It has a true poetic spirit (...) he is an artist, thus we want to lead the particular reader to this novel (...) Askildsen portrays the expectations of a young boy with enormous gentleness."
(Odd Eidem, VG)

First published: 1957, Oktober
Kjell Askildsen: Biography and bibliography