Hermit Summer

HERMIT SUMMER tells the story of a young woman, a biologist, who travels to the forests of southern Norway. Her mission: to confirm sightings of the rare hermit beetle, a species thought to be extinct in Norway. Her hope: to find her way back to life as she attempts to deal with the grief of losing a child. There she meets a surly older woman with secrets in her past, together with a handsome local. She forges a bond with the woman, especially when she learns that the nearby thousand-year-old oak forest is under threat. But there’s another mystery at the heart of the book – the reason why the older woman will do everything she can to preserve the land beneath her feet.

A stunningly beautiful novel that transports the reader to the majesty of the Norwegian forests. It asks questions about the stories we hide and the memory of landscape, the clash between preserving an environment and local economic factors, the clarity that space and silence can bring. At its heart is the transformative friendship between two women, both of whom have sought the solitude for reasons of their own. Thoughtful, intelligent and timely, Hermit Summer feels like a balm to the soul.