Ave Eva: A Norwegian Tragedy

Edvard Hoem's award-winning Ave Eva: A Norwegian Tragedy, translated by Frankie Belle Shackelford, follows Edmund Saknevik, the exiled ""son of a traitor"" who has returned to his ancestral farm on Norway's western coast. He must come to terms with his homeland's repression of present shames (such as the oil industry) and past ones (such as the Nazi occupation). Both intimate and sprawling, personal and political, the novel offers a detailed portrait of a country and a people unfamiliar to most American readers a few may find it slow going, but it will fascinate others. ( Mar. 1)