AshehougAgency

The Little Horse

The Little Horse is a novel about the last five days of Snorre’s life. He lives in fear of his son, Orækja, who he is afraid will turn against him. Snorre sets out to write the story of his life, in which he plans to refute the allegations of those who oppose him in Norway and Iceland. His purpose is to defend himself against the malicious rumours put about that he is hungry for power and a faithless womanizer, but he has difficulties getting started. At the same time he cherishes the hope that he again will meet his true love, a woman capable of challenging him in every respect. Meanwhile, not far away the would-be assassins are preparing to carry out their ordained task.

With this book Thorvald Steen concludes his quartet of groundbreaking historical novels, which also includes Don Carlos (1993), Giovanni (1995) and Constantinople (1999).

Praise for The Little Horse:

"A thriller, but also a novel about love and a story of self-knowledge. It is intense and substantial and may perfectly well be read again. And again "
(NRK)

"Sober and fine about the last days in the life of Snorri. Masterly and saga like, Steen builds up the tensions towards the murder"
(Dagbladet)

"A beautiful and surprising book"
(Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation)

"Amazing handling of linguistic images. The description of the last days in the life of Snorri is an ever current subject"
(Aftenposten)

"Another great novel by one of our most prominent authors"
(Bergens Tidende)

"Another great novel by Steen"
(Adresseavisen)

"A very beautiful and sad novel"
(Dagens Nyheter)

"A Geyser of a novel written in a progressive language"
(Fredrikstad Blad)

”Thorvald Steen’s writing is powerful, simple and magnificent… In The Little Horse, the human aspect […] is just as important as the historical”
(Le Monde)

"The novel is vigorous, not to say innovative”
(Radio Francaise)

"Rough and beautiful ... In short and concise sentences, Steen sculptures a false, cunning, ostentatious, selfish and tired man … a very beautiful and gloomy novel"
(Dagens Nyheter, Sweden)

"Masterly about Snorre ' s writer's block … Steen succeeds in joining deep knowledge about historical facts with a timeless, open style that makes events and environment seem real, close up to the reader ' s own present … Like in his earlier historical novels, Steen has been working hard with the details that give the imagination space to unfold . He has in a masterly way portrayed the bard’s strugglings and his joyous love life during his last five days… Thorvald Steen catches his life without losing a single nuance of the intensive struggle between hardness and insight. This is a magnificent novel"
(Svenska Dagbladet)

”[THE LITTLE HORSE] is about Snorre Sturlason, the chronicle writer, and though the author, Thorvald Steen, is not Icelandic, he proudly continues the legacy. It’s a saga filled with passion, death, revenge, but also with love an unbreakable loyalty […] It’s a sorrowful and very dramatic story […] but the author has also sought to get below the surface of the iconic image of Snorre.”
(‘We recommend’, Litteratursiden.dk)

“The novel’s strength is its mix of action, or rather actions, and postponement, the slow torment of a writing process that refuses to get going, that in itself is the carrier of death. Also in Snorre’s longing for Margrete, who also after an all too quick night with him has to leave him, sleeping, unconscious of the deeper values of life. […] THE LITTLE HORSE trots along nicely, with a fine amble between historical facts and empathic fiction among characters that only seldomly calls on the reader’s sympathy, distant in time, but unfortunately easily recognizable, for instance like close-ups of international politics.”
(Information, Denmark)

”The precise sentences and the caustic images push the reader further and deeper towards the basic needs and challenges of existance”
(Helsinki Sanomat, Finland)

”This novel is intense, hard and, above all, gripping”
 (Morgunbladid, Island)

Translations: American English (Sun and Moon), Arabic (PWU), Bulgarian, Danish (Per Kofod Forlag), Faroese ("Sleipnir hin rádni" published by Nylendi), Finnish ("Pikku hevonen" published by Like, Helsinki), French ("Le petit cheval" published by Calmann-Lévy, Paris), Icelandic (Almenna Bökafelagid, Reykjavik), Japanese (Iwanami/Shouten), Russian (MIK, Moscow), Swedish ("Den lilla hästen" published by Norstedts, Stockholm ), Turkish (Ithaki, Istanbul).

First published: 2002 by Forlaget Oktober
Thorvald Steen:   Biography and bibliography

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