Dear Jonny Henriksen

What really happened that time, back in the 1950s, when Laila Larsen’s family rented the first floor of the Henriksen family’s house in that quiet inland village? There were the brutal methods Sverre Larsen used to bring up Lailia’s big brother Arvid, and the quarrels between Laila’s parents. There was Edgar Henriksen’s struggle to teach his deaf son Jonny to talk. And there was the special relationship that developed between Laila and Jonny, because Jonny was the only one who understood Laila’s sense of solitude. But then there was also something else from this time, a secret that Laila has been carrying around all her life, that is about to resurface. Now she’s sitting by her frail and doddering mother’s kitchen table writing a letter to Jonny. How much should she tell him after all these years? Should she keep silent about the worst thing?

First published: Aschehoug, 2008
Wenche-Britt Hagabakken: Biography and bibliography