Read April 2019. Published 21st March 2019 by Orenda Books.
1942, Ester, a Jewish courier for the Norwegian resistance, is betrayed to the Nazis and narrowly escapes to Sweden. Her family are not so lucky as they are shipped to Auschwitz and their possessions confiscated. After her escape, her dear friend Ase is tragically murdered, leaving a young daughter, Turid.
In Stockholm, Ester is reunited with Gerhard Falkum, who was Ase's lover and Turid's father. The Norwegian Gestapo believe that Gerhard is responsible for the murder of Ase, but he maintains his innocence.
Ester becomes involved in the murky world of espionage and finds herself being drawn into a relationship with Gerhard - until Gerhard's apparent death in a fire.
Twenty-five years later, Gerhard inexplicably shows up in Oslo, and apparently wants to get to know his daughter, Turid.
Where has he been all this time and why has he reappeared now? Why does he keep skulking around graveyards?
Ester starts to look into events of the past, using contacts from her previous life in espionage, and comes across information which leads to her putting together pieces of the past in a different way. Ester discovers the shocking truth behind her betrayal and Ase's death, and she will need to put her war-time training into use once again, in order to stay alive.
What a brilliantly crafted plot, with shades of John Le Carre and William Boyd! I did not know a lot about what went on in war time Norway, so this was particularly interesting.
There are actually three timelines running through this book - 2015, when Turid discovers a bracelet, with a significant past, she thought had been lost years ago is listed for sale in a local newspaper; 1967, when Gerhard comes back from the dead and Ester starts to investigate the past; and 1942, when the betrayl and murder happened.
It takes a skillful writer to manipulate these timelines into a satisfying and credible ending, and Kjell Ola Dahl manages to do this seamlessly.
As the threads of the story start to come together, and you learn the shocking truth behind the events of 1942, it was very difficult to put this book down. I thought my head was going to burst trying to put together all the little snippets of information Ester gathered, and when everything finally slotted into place, I felt like I had been kicked in the gut by the horrifying truth.
Fantastic writing and a fantastic translation too.
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