What does he remember best? Ah yes – a Sunday morning when he’s trying to have a lie-in, he needs sleep, all the sleep he can get, he’s been out on the fjord all night. He wakes from a dream, his boat is going down, the wheelhouse slowly filling with seawater; he’s at the bottom of the sea, he’s underwater, lying there helpless on his back, his face turned to the surface. Then he’s suddenly wide awake, one ear full of liquid, both girls sitting on top of him. Eli and Guro have brought a bottle of water into the bed; they giggle when they see his reaction. There is no happiness like this, a Sunday morning, with the early sun hanging above the mountains on the other side of the fjord, a light that settles over the bedclothes, over the floor, over his girls. He hears their breath, their laughter.
— Frode Grytten, The Ferryman and His Wife. Translated from Norwegian to English by Alison McCullough. (Algonquin Books, November 18, 2025)
Notes:
- Recommended.
- Book Review by Eileen Garvin: Read This: The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.
I like this book more and more. I’d have no problem whatsoever if you’d decide to post a short passage every day until you’re done with the whole book!
Happy second Advent Sunday to all.
We’ll be having a late afternoon service, lit by many, many, many candles, with much Christmassy music, songs, choral works and some preaching…. followed by an ‘apéro’ where all and sundry bring food, wine, a hot soup will be prepared outside, and much mulled (spiced) wine, punsch (sort of a hot lemonade w/o alcohol for the kids), christmas cookies, etc. This is also the reason I can write now, as usually at this time of a Sunday, I’m not at home.
Laughing. Here’s two more for you Kiki:
All these last times. The end is never as you imagine it, and the end is everything, is it not? There will be a last time you swing your daughter onto your shoulders and carry her through the forest. A last time you walk up the mountainside and gaze out across the landscape that is yours. A last time you go to the store to buy bread and milk and butter. A last summer. A last swim. He had floated on his back over there in August, looking up at a blue sky and the white clouds that had been chalked across it. He had sat on the warm, smooth rocks, closed his eyes, and listened to the gurgling of the fjord.
— Frode Grytten, The Ferryman and His Wife. Translated to English by Alison McCullough. (Algonquin Books, November 18, 2025)
All his minutes exist in that house, all his hours, all his days. After all these years he has learned that a good home is a fortification, a cocoon surrounding the body, a shelter that comes after skin and clothes. To be there, make food, make babies, sleep. To wake, to eat…to love.
— Frode Grytten, The Ferryman and His Wife. Translated to English by Alison McCullough. (Algonquin Books, November 18, 2025)
❤️
Yes, yes. It is already on the list. Oh wait, look at that. Ordered…
smiling…hope you like it.
I don’t doubt. You’ve not steered me wrong yet.
👌
can’t wait for this book
Oh, I must read this…to touch delight by being aware of the simple beauty all around..
I loved it.