Will and Testament, Vigdis Hjorth
Will and Testament, Vigdis Hjorth
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Will and Testament
A Novel

Author: Vigdis Hjorth, Charlotte Barslund

Narrator: Nano Nagle

Unabridged: 8 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/10/2019

Synopsis

A controversial bestseller from one of Norway’s most intelligent and highly regarded novelistsWhen a dispute over her parents’ will grows bitter, Bergljot is drawn back into the orbit of the family she fled twenty years before. Her mother and father have decided to leave two island summer houses to her sisters, disinheriting the two eldest siblings from the most meaningful part of the estate. To outsiders, it is a quarrel about property and favoritism. But Bergljot, who has borne a horrible secret since childhood, understands the gesture as something very different—a final attempt to suppress the truth and a cruel insult to the grievously injured.Will and Testament is a lyrical meditation on trauma and memory, as well as a furious account of a woman’s struggle to survive and be believed.

About Vigdis Hjorth

Vigdis Hjorth is the author of over a dozen prize-winning and bestselling novels. Will and Testament sold 150,000 copies in Norway and has received several awards, including the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature and the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize, as well as being nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She lives in Oslo.

About Charlotte Barslund

Charlotte Barslund has translated several Norwegian and Danish writers, including Jo Nesbø and Karin Fossum. Her translation of Per Petterson’s I Curse The River of Time was shortlisted for the Independent 2011 Foreign Fiction award, and that of Carsten Jensen’s We, the Drowned was nominated for the 2016 International Dublin Literary Award.

About Nano Nagle

Nano Nagle is an experienced and engaging narrator whose voice can be heard everywhere from audiobooks to commercials. With the ability to do a multitude of character voices and her love of storytelling, she excels with titles in all genres, including science fiction, historical fiction, and mystery.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mevsim

Bayıldım! Aile olmak bir bataktır, diye tekrarlayıp durdum okurken. Anormal olanı normalmiş gibi benimsemek, kendin olarak asla var olamadığın ama onlarsız da bir bütün olarak hissedemediğin, o bataklığı özlediğin, değer görmeye, görülmeye umutsuzca muhtaç olduğun yer: aile. Ve Vigdis Hjorth öyle net,......more

Goodreads review by Banu

müthiş bir iç dökümü ve kurmaca olduğuna inanılmayacak denli doğal bir roman. daha ana-baba ölmeden haksızca paylaştırılan iki kulübenin 4 kardeşin arasını bozmasından başlayıp babanın ölmesiyle doruğa ulaşan, kutsal aile mitini paramparça eden, kimin niçin kendi çıkarına göre davrandığını teker tek......more

Goodreads review by Paltia

The first 84 pages of this book were close to mind numbing. It was as if the author was reciting a mantra about her father’s final will to calm herself. As each page melted into the next there were small hints revealed as to where the story was headed. By page 84 the narrator is angry. She’s hammeri......more

Quotes

“Hypnotic. Hjorth works finely parsed and brilliant variations on her unrelenting theme of familial mistrust and misunderstanding.” New York Times

“A powerfully humane novel about inheritance, trauma and the inheritance of trauma.” Times Literary Supplement (London)

"Will and Testament is a compulsively readable novel, one that turns questions of shame into weapons against silence.” Paris Review

“Nano Nagle delivers this story with confidence, helping to build tension and atmosphere…Nagle’s strong characterization ensures that the story is easy to follow despite its sometimes upsetting subject matter. Her skilled voicing of Norwegian names is the only clue that this audiobook is a translation into English.” AudioFile

“Captivating, psychologically intense…Hjorth’s thoughtful, drily funny, and often devastating novel will leave a deep and lasting impression.” Publishers Weekly

“The strength of the novel lies in Bergljot’s convincing and continuing vulnerability, in her mixed feelings and her flaws…A cleareyed and convincing story of a family’s doomed attempt to reconcile and the limits of forgiveness.” Kirkus Reviews

Awards

  • National Book Award
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