Historical novel set in ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
Three short stories set in NORWAY in Winter
3rd December 2025
Winter Stories by Ingvild Rishøi, three short stories set in Norway in Winter
TR: Diane Oatley
Norway in Winter is atmospherically conjured up in these three, reasonably substantial and beautifully told stories. They focus on relationships with children, the adults in their lives generally trying to do right by them.
The first, which was my favourite, is about a single mother and her six year old daughter who are in town but don’t have enough money to get back home, so they are going to have walk, particularly as mum has just inadvertently given a homeless person the equivalent and more of their bus fare. The daughter, given the cold and anxiety, has wet her knickers and so they go to the department story to get a new pair – but, of course, there is no money to pay. Mum toys with removing the security tag in order to steal the item but struggles. Someone overhears them speaking in the changing cubicle and offers to give them some money towards a purchase. It is the kindness of strangers that lingers over this narrative and it is the story that remained with me.
The second is the story of a man who has been in prison and is trying to reconnect with his young son, and the third describes an older sibling running away with her two younger siblings, Mia and Mikael, hopping on a bus. They are then engulfed in a snowstorm.
The cold backdrop permeates the sparsely and simply written prose, which proves to be deceptively descriptive and deeper than perhaps at first anticipated. The characters are depicted as average people, struggling with life and money, yet confronting the issues that face them with resolve.
It is the kind of book that needs to be read with a warming beverage beside a brightly burning fire. My copy is a beautifully produced hardback, with speckles of silver to denote falling snow.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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