Where Monsters Dwell

by Jorgen Brekke

  Other historical figures mentioned in the novel, such as Edgar Allan Poe, don’t figure directly in the plot. The anecdotes about Poe are true for the most part, or at least based on long-established myths. Small details about Poe were also made up. It would be a mere coincidence should it turn out that Poe actually did own a book by Lord Byron bound in skin that he purchased from a hatter who emigrated from Trondheim to the United States.

  Johannes the priest is a product of the author’s imagination, and there is also no Johannes Book in the book vault of the Gunnerus Library. However, Absalon Pederssøn Beyer’s diary, and the same gentleman’s history of Norway, are part of the collection, providing one of the most interesting literary sources we have from the 1500s, a time in Norway that was otherwise largely lacking in good writing.

  —Jørgen Brekke, 2011

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JØrgen Brekke was born in the small town of Horten, Norway, and currently lives there with his family. Brekke has been a teacher and a freelance journalist, but is now a full-time writer. He’s the author of Where Monsters Dwell and a forthcoming sequel.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  WHERE MONSTERS DWELL Copyright © 2011 by JØrgen Brekke. Translation copyright © 2014 Steven T. Murray. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.minotaurbooks.com

  Cover design by Rob Grom

  Cover art: The Damned Souls in Hell by Signorelli Luca, 1499–1504, 15th century fresco © Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images; bridge and river © Giorgio Magini/istock.com; man in tunnel © Vova Pomortzeff/Alamy

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication is available upon request

  ISBN 978-1-250-01680-5 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-250-02604-0 (e-book)

  e-ISBN 9781250026040

  First published in Norway by Gyldendal Norsk Forlag in 2011

  First U.S. Edition: February 2014