Karnanne’s life is unraveling.
Nearly thirty years, after her sister Alicia drowned in the river, she fled her home in Tverrbygda. Now, a crisis in her marriage sends her back to that same small place between the mountains.
It is midwinter when she arrives. The valley and its fierce river covered in ice and snow. She is met by Ænar, once a close childhood friend. He seems the same, the place seems the same – but is it? Tverrbygda is shaped by silence—a place where people endure rather than speak, and where the past is rarely talked about.
Karnanne moves into her father’s old house, and begins unraveling a local legend – about young girls drawn into the mountain by ancient beings. But as she digs into the past, her own wounds are torn open. The locals insist Alicia’s death was an accident, but memories and whispers suggest otherwise.
As long-buried secrets surface, Karnanne begins to suspect that someone wanted her sister gone. And when secrets surface in a place like Tverrbygda, the people who buried them can become angry.
A blend of Twin Peaks and Sweet Home Alabama.
Vårt Land
The Other Side of The River is dark-roasted crime fiction for those of us who are not particularly interested in crime fiction. With her debut novel, Therese Tungen places herself—also in terms of quality—in the same literary landscape as more seasoned Swedish colleagues such as Kerstin Ekman and Karin Smirnoff.
NRK
That such a wise, thoughtful, and sensitive reflection on loss can be transformed into a gripping story where the pages seem to turn themselves is something to be celebrated.
Morgenbladet
A compelling, slow-burning suspense novel with a touch of crime.
Adresseavisa
A blend of everyday life in rural Norway and a story of grief, rooted in folk legend.
Klassekampen
