Faces

A searing, haunting novel of a woman on the edge, portrayed with all the vividness of lived experience. Lise, a children's book writer and married mother of three, is haunted by disembodied faces and voices. She is convinced that her husband will leave her and is scared that she will never write again. However, she begins to wonder if insanity is something to be feared or does it bring a kind of freedom.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 26 January 2021
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

One of Denmark's most celebrated writers, New Statesman, has released a searing, haunting novel of a woman on the edge, portrayed with all the vividness of lived experience. Copenhagen, 1968. Lise, a children's book writer and married mother of three, is increasingly haunted by disembodied faces and voices. She is convinced that her husband, already extravagantly unfaithful, will leave her. Most of all, she is scared that she will never write again. Yet as she descends into a world of pills and hospitals, she begins to wonder, is insanity really something to be feared, or does it bring a kind of freedom?

Ditlevsen explores the surprising contours of Lise's experience: from her point of view, madness can be funny, soft, and secure, and far more enlightening than the reality it struggles to evade.

The New York Times has praised the book, stating that it is "translated by Tiina Nunnally with all the finesse and subtlety that her work deserves."

This is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that will leave readers wondering about the nature of madness and the power of the human mind to overcome it.

Weight: 112g
Dimension: 128 x 195 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780241391914