It is 1942 and Denmark is occupied by German troops. A young woman is invited to spend the summer with people she barely knows in a cottage on the North Sea coast. There she meets two people who will affect her entire life: a fourteen-year-old boy who is the nephew of her hosts, and an English airman who is shot down over the marshlands nearby. Timid friendships develop into a dangerous triangle, and many years later an elderly man looks back on it all asking himself whether his youthful desire gave way to an unforgivable betrayal.
Virginia is a sensitive, deeply moving love story about the intricacies of relationships in the troubled twentieth century, written with Grondahl’s incomparable, perceptive sympathy.
“Grondahl remains one of the greatest artistic stylists”
aktuelt, Denmark
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“Unique and elegant variations on the theme of love … Grondahl offers surprising and original images.”
dagsavisen, Norway
“Virginia is a subtle, unpretentious and complete story of destiny and deserves to attract many readers.”
arhus Stiftstidende, Denmark
Jens Christian Grøndahl is one of the most celebrated and widely read writers in Europe. Born in Denmark in 1959, his literary work includes thirteen novels, essays and several plays. Three of his novels, Lucca, Silence in October and Virginia, were published by Canongate to outstanding acclaim. His fiction has been translated into sixteen languages, and he has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Booksellers’ Golden Laurels for Lucca.