The Murder of Halland
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Denmark’s foremost literary author turns crime fiction on its head.
Bess and Halland live in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else. When Halland is found murdered in the main square the police encounter only riddles. For Bess bereavement marks the start of a journey that leads her to a reassessment of first friends, then family.
If you like crime you won’t be disappointed. The book has all the right ingredients. A murder, a gun, an inspector, suspense. But the story strays far beyond the whodunit norm. In beautifully stark language Pia Juul manages to chart the phases of bereavement.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Martin
Aitken
Martin Aitken is a Doctor of Linguistics and an acclaimed translator of Danish and Norwegian literature, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Hanne Ørstavik, Kim Leine, Josefine Klougart and Olga Ravn. His translations have received the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Translation Prize, the US National Translation Award in Prose and the PEN America Translation Prize, among other awards. His translations have also appeared on the shortlists of the DUBLIN Literary Award, the US National Book Awards and the International Booker Prize
Martin Aitken is a Doctor of Linguistics and an acclaimed translator of Danish and Norwegian literature, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Hanne Ørstavik, Kim Leine, Josefine Klougart and Olga Ravn. His translations have received the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Translation Prize, the US National Translation Award in Prose and the PEN America Translation Prize, among other awards. His translations have also appeared on the shortlists of the DUBLIN Literary Award, the US National Book Awards and the International Booker Prize
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
In her novel Pia Juul uses the form of the traditional crime fiction to show that analysis and intellectual investigation don’t reveal the real mystery and complexity of human life and existence.