The Necessary Rituals of Maren Gripe
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Maren abstains from salt, meat and sex on Saturdays. On the other days of the week, she is magnetically, magically desirable to every man in her remote North Sea fishing village, and to all visiting seamen, but has remained completely faithful to her husband Jacob. When she crawls into their bed with intent late one spring Saturday night, Jacob is paralysed with shock, not least because, somehow, she smells of autumn…
Within hours Maren’s life is crumbling, as is her marriage and the life of her community. She’s to be found in a pub full of lusty sailors, baring her breasts before the astonished regulars and one entirely irregular visitor, a Dutch seaman who, uniquely, remains impervious to her charms. Her unrequited passion for him reaches fever pitch and sparks a series of arguments, thefts, fires and fistfights – and the entire tranquil, ordered village seems to go crazy in the wake of her passion.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Barbara
J. Haveland
Barbara J. Haveland is a Scottish literary translator, based in Copenhagen. She translates fiction, poetry and drama from Danish and Norwegian to English. She has translated works by many leading Danish and Norwegian writers, both classic and contemporary, including Henrik Ibsen, Peter Høeg, Linn Ullmann and Carl Frode Tiller. Her English-language translation of On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
Barbara J. Haveland is a Scottish literary translator, based in Copenhagen. She translates fiction, poetry and drama from Danish and Norwegian to English. She has translated works by many leading Danish and Norwegian writers, both classic and contemporary, including Henrik Ibsen, Peter Høeg, Linn Ullmann and Carl Frode Tiller. Her English-language translation of On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.