In this edition of Endnotes, we take a look at book one of On the Calculation of Volume (New Directions, Nov.) by Solvej Balle. In a starred review, PW called the book an "astounding chronicle of a rare book dealer’s struggle over the course of one year as she wakes up each morning only to repeat the same day," adding that "Readers won’t be able to look away."

Here's how the book came together:

Barbara J. Haveland, Translator

“Translating Solvej Balle’s work is a rare treat. Her writing is spare and taut, there is nothing superfluous here, nothing random. Every word is weighed, every phrase and sentence finely honed. The challenge for the translator is to produce a faithful and felicitous rendering in English of her distilled prose. The pleasure lies in working with the author to achieve this end.”

Barbara Epler, Publisher and President, New Directions

“We were so lucky: the translation came in, and for some reason we all got to it immediately. I couldn’t put it down. I wrote a memo saying how incredibly riveting On the Calculation of Volume is, and everyone at New Directions was in agreement. Our offer was accepted, and the next week she won the Nordic Council Literature Prize.”

Matt Dorfman, Designer and Cover Artist

“The whole collection of covers is a mediation on how a person changes when everything around them stays exactly the same. Across the series, the title and author’s name are placed in the exact same endless loop on each cover while the nebula-like burn that the main character endures early in the first book gradually changes colors, shrinks, and ‘heals’ as we reach the cover of book seven.”

Sophia H. Smith, Agent, Copenhagen Literary Agency

“Solvej sent us book one of On the Calculation of Volume, which arrived—almost ominously—just before Denmark’s first pandemic lockdown. As the days began to blur together, it made for a strangely comforting yet utterly propulsive read. I was hooked from the first pages and couldn’t wait to share it with everyone I knew.”

Solvej Balle, Author

“It took a long time for me to find out how to write the book—the main character developed very slowly, the setting and how to tell the story went through a lot of changes, and on the way I was writing several other books, always in doubt about whether this idea would work at all. I tried a few times to throw out the whole thing—once, I physically thrashed my notes—but the book came back.”