The Crystal of the Sky is a quietly powerful and profoundly moving novel about a life that might otherwise have been forgotten. Like John Williams’ Stoner, it reveals how even the most unremarkable existence can hold extraordinary depth.
The story is inspired by a man who lived on a small farm in the south of Norway. When he died, almost nothing was remembered about him. The only trace he left behind was a short poem, ending with the line about walking upon Heaven’s crystal – an image that inspired the novel’s title.
We meet Tomas, the village postman. Everyone knows who he is, yet few know anything about him. Day after day he follows the same route, carrying letters and fragments of other people’s lives in his mailbag. His brother Salve died in a tragic accident in 1897. Why did nothing ever come of Anne Karin, the neighbour girl he once dreamed of? And what does the schoolteacher Nils see in this quiet figure? The Crystal of the Sky is the first step in a broader literary project, portraying modest and quiet lives, and showing how even the seemingly ordinary can hold extraordinary depth.
Heivoll manages to be nostalgic without becoming sentimental, and he is just as good at describing the joy of life’s simple things as he is at portraying a mind that is gradually deteriorating.
Klassekampen
This story easily brings to mind novels such as John Williams’ Stoner and Robert Seethaler’s A Whole Life.
Bok365
Once again, the author proves himself a sensitive and perceptive chronicler of human nature. Heivoll writes with restraint, yet manages to bring forth small dramas charged with existential power.
Vårt Land
The book about Tomas is tender and moving. And beautifully written.
Fædrelandsvennen
A deep inner tension makes the reader’s time in Gaute Heivoll’s novel My Time in These Woods worth its weight in gold.
Dagbladet, About My time in these woods
