"The nokk act on behalf of Mother Nature. They punish humans who overstep the mark. They might make shallow pools deepen and drown people who abuse nature. I've heard of crops that turned poisonous when the earth was not given proper stewardship."
I have just finished reading The Nesting, which is a Norwegian thriller/ghost story. Written in a fairytale style and incorporating Norse mythology and legend, it follows a young woman who runs off to Norway to escape a troubled life in England. There she takes up the position of nanny, looking after the two young daughters of an ambitious architect.
The architect, Tom, is busy building his dream house by the fjord in honour of his dead wife. He feels that he knows all about nature and how to build an eco-friendly abode, using only sustainable materials and recycled products. But he doesn't know about the old ways. He has no concept of the old gods of river, rock and forest, no understanding of the fragile truce that exists between them and humankind. He wants to build a great house, but the river is in the way. So he moves it. He creates a damn and redirects the river that has flowed the same course for centuries. And that's when all the trouble starts.
The nanny has secrets of her own. Her life in England might be in the past, but she lives with the uncertainty that one day her secrets will be discovered and she will lose her position. Without it she has nothing. She builds a trusting relationship with the two girls in her care, adopts a baby raven and begins to feel safe in her new life. But then she starts seeing things - elk hoof-prints in the house, a shadowy figure in the background, the Sad Lady with no eyes that haunts the little girl's nightmares. It's all a bit spooky and when the diary of Tom's late wife is placed in her bedroom, she learns that he might not be all that he seems and she must protect the girls at all costs.
This novel is at once bright and dark. It is a delight of snow scapes and winter wonderlands, of fjords and reindeer, yet it holds the dark melancholy of the Norwegian soul. It is gripping and magical, with a fairytale atmosphere in the descriptive passages of endless snow falling in the shadowy forest. In some ways it reminded me of the novel The Twisted Tree, also set in Norway.
The Nesting is a very engaging story that will keep you up late into the night, lost within the pages of this wintry Norwegian mystery. So if, like me, you dream of holidays in Norway and want to escape to a snowy world during our second national lock-down, this is the book for you and it is best enjoyed with a melting cheese pot and warm mulled wine.
I hope you are enjoying the winter season so far!
BB Marie x
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