Children of God
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Lars Petter Sveen’s Children of God recounts the lives of people on the margins of the New Testament; thieves, Roman soldiers, prostitutes, lepers, healers, and the occasional disciple all get a chance to speak. In the opening story, a group of soldiers are tasked with carrying out King Herod’s edict to slaughter the young male children in Bethlehem but waver in their resolve. These interwoven stories harbor surprises at every turn, as the characters reappear. A group of thieves on the road to Jericho encounters no good Samaritan but themselves. A boy healed of his stutter will later regress. A woman searching for her lover from beyond the grave cannot find solace. At crucial moments an old blind man appears, urging the characters to give in to their darker impulses.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Guy
Puzey
Guy Puzey (b. 1984) is a lecturer in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He grew up in the Highlands of Scotland, just a short swim from Norway, and he has translated work by a wide range of authors, especially from Nynorsk, the lesser-used of the two official written standards of Norwegian. He was shortlisted for the 2015 Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation for Waffle Hearts (published in North America as Adventures with Waffles), his translation of Maria Parr’s Vaffelhjarte.
Guy Puzey (b. 1984) is a lecturer in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He grew up in the Highlands of Scotland, just a short swim from Norway, and he has translated work by a wide range of authors, especially from Nynorsk, the lesser-used of the two official written standards of Norwegian. He was shortlisted for the 2015 Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation for Waffle Hearts (published in North America as Adventures with Waffles), his translation of Maria Parr’s Vaffelhjarte.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
A daring and complex novel set in biblical times and spun off stories from the Bible. The novel explores ethical and existentialist themes and makes them relevant for the modern reader. Now. Deichman – Oslo Public Library, Norway
Children of God is a story that no one has read before, from a world we all know. We experience stories from the people around Jesus from when he was born and till his death. Sølvberget Library and Culture Centre, Norway