Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes

byPer Petterson, Don Bartlett (Translator)

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Per Petterson masters the art of writing simply about big subjects, and this is the heartwarming debut that brought the author of the highly acclaimed Out Stealing Horses to prominence

Arvid Jansen is a young boy who lives on the outskirts of Oslo. It’s the early sixties, his father works in a shoe factory and his Danish mother works as a cleaner. Arvid wets his bed at night and has nightmares about crocodiles, but slowly he is beginning to piece the world together.

Per Petterson’s debut, in which he introduces Arvid Jansen to the world, is a delicate portrait of childhood in all its complexity, its wonders and confusions that will delight fans of Out Stealing Horses and new readers alike.

What makes Petterson’s storytelling so mesmerising is his measured, gentle restraint
Scotland on Sunday

About Per Petterson

Per Petterson was born in Oslo in 1952 and worked for several years as an unskilled labourer and a bookseller. He has received the prestigious Nordic Council Literature Prize and, on multiple occasions, the Brage Prize, the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature and the Booksellers' Best Book of the Year Award for his many celebrated novels, such as In the Wake, I Curse the River of Time and I Refuse. Petterson made his literary breakthrough in 2003 with Out Stealing Horses, which in English translation won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. It has been published in fifty languages and was an international bestseller.

Details

Imprint: Harvill Secker
Published: 14/11/2013
ISBN: 9781846553707
Length: 128 pages
Dimensions: 166mm x 10mm x 120mm
Weight: 98g
Price: £12.99

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Paperback 2013
Ebook 2013

Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes

Format:

Buy the book from:

What makes Petterson’s storytelling so mesmerising is his measured, gentle restraint

Written with humour and great clarity, it’s a short but strikingly memorable read

A small book that packs a punch

Shot through with a tender, nostalgic quality

This debut outing (from 1987) by the Norwegian novelist tells a tale of childhood c.1960 with tender, bittersweet poignancy

If you loved Out Stealing Horses, you won’t be disappointed by his razor-sharp debut, which tells the story of Arvid’s childhood … The language is simple, beautiful and cleansed of literary affectation. There is not a single superfluous word

These father-son stories bring us the first meeting with one of Nordic literature’s most lovable characters, Arvid Jansen. A mixture of Alfons Åberg, Ingemar from My Life as a Dog and in part Oskar from The Tin Drum ... New readers should begin nowhere but here

There is both humour and tenderness in Per Petterson’s debut collection from 1987 … Petterson masters the art of writing simply of big subjects. As a reader, you have to read slowly and attentively to register everything, or read the book twice, which you gladly will

If you loved Out Stealing Horses, you won’t be disappointed by his razor-sharp debut… The language is simple, beautiful and cleansed of literary affectation. There is not a single superfluous word

There is both humour and tenderness… Petterson masters the art of writing simply of big subjects. As a reader, you have to read slowly and attentively to register everything, or read the book twice, which you gladly will

About Per Petterson

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