Breathless Home
The main character in Matilda Gyllenberg’s debut novel has been blessed with a lot, but still feels cheated. She stages a wonderful life for herself, her husband and their cherished daughter, in a house she tries to decorate to absolute perfection. But behind the beautiful facade hide disappointments, secrets, and betrayal. Why does her neighbors refuse to talk about the past? With a ruthless gaze, the narrator looks at herself and the people around her. She balances on the border between sharpness and madness, isolated within the safe but intrusive walls of home.
Who was the woman that appeared one day in the then newly built and secluded neighborhood, together with her seven-year -old son? Her name was Hild and she came from the Norwegian archipelago, via swinging 60’s London and commune living during the 70’s. Soon she moved into a caravan at the edge of the nearby forest. Piece by piece, the fate of Hild is revealed to the narrator. With a concise language and a keen eye for detail, the monotony of everyday family life is woven together, and increasingly frightening events of the past are discovered. What is the worst thing that can happen to a parent?
Breathless Home (Det lungsjuka huset) is a story about confinement and expectations, both from the outside and inside. About being torn apart by the need for security and the longing for freedom. And that times have not changed as much as we might wish.
Publishing information
Rights sold
- Denmark
Reviews
“Gyllenberg nicely handles the simple clarity that under the bright rooms there are the dark ones.”
“Matilda Gyllenberg's debut Breathless Home has a language that sparkles with elegant sharpness. The book is definitely one of the better debuts I have read in a long time.”
“The elegance and style security of the language makes me unwittingly think of Håkan Nesser.”
“What gives the novel its nerve is the unexpected question of responsibility. How responsible is it to be so very kind and gullible that it turns into life - threatening naivety? How open to life is it healthy to be?”
“Matilda Gyllenberg's debut is eerily seductive, not least because it, lightly and elegantly, works as a literary echo chamber.”
