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The Pastor by Hanne Ørstavik
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The Pastor

$20.99

Get for $14.99 with membership
Narrator Madeleine Dauer

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Translator Martin Aitken
Length 7 hours 34 minutes
Language English
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A thought-provoking, existential novel—as Liv searches for meaning and identity in her own life, she must find the words to connect, comfort and lead others.



Liv, an intense and reticent theologian, moves to a bitterly cold fishing village to take up a post as the church's new pastor following the death of her friend, Kristiane. In the upper rooms of a large house overlooking the fjord, Liv plans her sermons and studies the violent interplay of Norway's Christian colonial past. She trails downstairs into the apartment below for dinners and breakfasts with a widow and her two children. As Liv becomes acquainted with the villagers and their own private tragedies, memories bloom in passages that urgently question the unpredictable bedrock of language, and the peculiar channels of imagined experience as it might have been, if only there had been a different set of words, or an outstretched hand.



The past mingles darkly with the present, cascading in chilling images: a dog lying dead in the snowy plains, Kristiane's teeth flashing as she laughs, a procession of singing, knife-carrying protesters curving along a river's edge. Martin Aitken's translation of this extraordinary novel rings with the brilliance and rigor of a master.

Hanne Ørstavik, one of the most admired and prominent writers in contemporary Norwegian fiction, published her first novel Cut in 1994. Ørstavik has written a number of acclaimed novels that have been translated into more than 16 languages. She has been awarded a host of literary prizes, including the Dobloug Prize, presented annually for Swedish and Norwegian fiction by the Swedish Academy. The English translation of Love was a finalist for a National Book Award.

Madeleine Dauer is a classically trained stage actor, theater artist, and professional film actor. Her theater work focuses primarily on classic texts as well as collaborative, devised pieces that heavily feature movement and puppetry. She has performed in New York City and throughout Connecticut.

Martin Aitken is the acclaimed translator of numerous novels from Danish and Norwegian, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Peter Høeg, Jussi Adler-Olsen, and Pia Juul.

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Limited-time offer

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Get two free audiobooks AND support local bookstores Make the switch