AshehougAgency

Suddenly Hearing Someone Open a Door

Suddenly Hearing Someone Open a Door is a novel that consists of a series of glimpses into the life of a young mother and her four-year-old daughter Sara, in the period when the mother is finishing her master thesis. As in her first novel Strong Hunger, Sudden Nause a, Marstein demonstrates her talent for precise observation. In this novel she also describes a person who is extremely self-conscious and critical towards her own actions, and who feels a need to reflect upon what it is that is "natural" and "real" - in relation to Sara's upbringing and in her relations to others - as opposed to "clichéd" or "artificial". Without dealing with dramatic events, and without ever leaving the universally recognizable in the relations between mother and child, the text tightens around the two in a way that could alarm the reader: Is the main character's self-image rooted in reality, and what are we to think of Sara's upbringing?

Praise for Suddenly Hearing Someone Open a Door:

"Impressive craft"
(VG )

"Trude Marstein draws a convincing portrait of a young mother who seeks control"
(Afteposten)

Manuscript available in English translation from Aschehoug Agency.

First published: 2000, Forlaget Oktober
Trude Marstein: Biography and bibliography