DER HVOR DU IKKE VIL HEN – WHERE YOU DON’T WANT TO GO
By Astrid Saalbach
IN THE EARLY years of the twentieth century, Sigrid grows up sheltered in a prosperous, affectionate family, her childhood illuminated by the presence of her young aunt Anna—a restless, magnetic figure to whom she becomes deeply attached.
WHEN ANNA SUFFERS a devastating heartbreak, she turns her back on everything familiar and vanishes north, reinventing herself in Greenland at the outbreak of World War I. What draws her to that distant land of ice and light, of isolation and promise, remains a mystery to those she leaves behind.
FROM THE VAST, unforgiving landscapes of Greenland, Anna’s choices send ripples back to Denmark, shaping destinies across oceans and generations. In a place where survival depends on silence, endurance, and adaptation, lives are altered in ways that cannot be undone.
ANNA’S ENCOUNTER WITH Greenland proves fateful—not only for herself, but for Sigrid as well. Though separated by distance and circumstance, their lives remain bound together, unfolding along paths as unpredictable and powerful as the land that first pulled them apart.
ABOUT THE BOOK
First published by Lindhardt og Ringhof, Denmark 2020
RIGHTS SOLD
Denmark, Gutkind
REVIEWS
A masterly family novel. (about family)
– Erik Svendsen, Jyllands-Posten
A powerful story about idolization and hatred.
– Lilian Munk Røsing, Politiken
The intertwined fate of two women is excellently depicted.
– Karen Syberg, Dagbladet Information
On the way through the 20th century [Astrid Saalbach establishes] a kind of repressive tour-de-force of an establishment condemnation of female frivolity.
– Jørgen Johansen, Berlingske
BOOKS
Fiction
