Septology

WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2022 International Booker Prize, Finalist 2022 National Book Award, Finalist 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award, Finalist New York TimesEditors’ Choice Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Bookforum What makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life and not another? Asle, an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway, is reminiscing about his life. His only friends are his neighbour, Åsleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers—two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life, both grappling with existential questions