Oceans of Time
by Merete Morken Andersen

Translated from the Norwegian by Barbara J. Haveland

It is midsummer in Norway. A long-divorced couple, Johan and Judith, meet one another again in the wake of a family tragedy. Finally they are forced to confront what went wrong in their relationship and the effect it has had on those around them. In the extraordinary psychological drama that follows, Johan and Judith plumb the very depths of sorrow and despair, before emerging with a new understanding.

Set in the 'white night' of a Norwegian summer, this profound novel, which draws on the myth of Persephone and on Mozart's The Magic Flute, not only deals with loss and grief, but also - transformingly - with hope, recovery and love.

Merete Morken Andersen has published poetry, a book on Ibsen and three novels and was editor of the literary magazine Vinduet. She lives with her husband and two children outside Oslo.