The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland

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by Nicolai Houm


  She realizes what woke her and counts fourteen of them moving slowly as a group over a low ridge behind the tent. Long, ragged fur almost covers their hooves and conceals the swinging gait of the grazing animals. They are traversing the landscape as if on rails, with their muzzles buried in the heather.

  An attack of cramp makes Jane bend over. She stands for a long time with her hands on her knees. Then, gradually, she straightens up and lets everything that is not moonlit and cold pass through her mind untouched, before she starts walking with long, weightless steps towards the animals.

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  THE SPECTRE OF ALEXANDER WOLF

  GAITO GAZDANOV

  ‘A mesmerising work of literature’ Antony Beevor

  SUMMER BEFORE THE DARK

  VOLKER WEIDERMANN

  ‘For such a slim book to convey with such poignancy the extinction of a generation of “Great Europeans” is a triumph’ Sunday Telegraph

  MESSAGES FROM A LOST WORLD

  STEFAN ZWEIG

  ‘At a time of monetary crisis and political disorder… Zweig’s celebration of the brotherhood of peoples reminds us that there is another way’ The Nation

  THE EVENINGS

  GERARD REVE

  ‘Not only a masterpiece but a cornerstone manqué of modern European literature’ Tim Parks, Guardian

  BINOCULAR VISION

  EDITH PEARLMAN

  ‘A genius of the short story’ Mark Lawson, Guardian

  IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE SEA

  TOMÁS GONZÁLEZ

  ‘Smoothly intriguing narrative, with its touches of sinister, Patricia Highsmith-like menace’ Irish Times

  BEWARE OF PITY

  STEFAN ZWEIG

  ‘Zweig’s fictional masterpiece’ Guardian

  THE ENCOUNTER

  PETRU POPESCU

  ‘A book that suggests new ways of looking at the world and our place within it’ Sunday Telegraph

  WAKE UP, SIR!

  JONATHAN AMES

  ‘The novel is extremely funny but it is also sad and poignant, and almost incredibly clever’ Guardian

  THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY

  STEFAN ZWEIG

  ‘The World of Yesterday is one of the greatest memoirs of the twentieth century, as perfect in its evocation of the world Zweig loved, as it is in its portrayal of how that world was destroyed’ David Hare

  WAKING LIONS

  AYELET GUNDAR-GOSHEN

  ‘A literary thriller that is used as a vehicle to explore big moral issues. I loved everything about it’ Daily Mail

  FOR A LITTLE WHILE

  RICK BASS

  ‘Bass is, hands down, a master of the short form, creating in a few pages a natural world of mythic proportions’ New York Times Book Review

  JOURNEY BY MOONLIGHT

  ANTAL SZERB

  ‘Just divine… makes you imagine the author has had private access to your own soul’ Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

  BEFORE THE FEAST

  SAŠA STANIŠIĆ

  ‘Exceptional… cleverly done, and so mesmerising from the off… thought-provoking and energetic’ Big Issue

  A SIMPLE STORY

  LEILA GUERRIERO

  ‘An epic of noble proportions… [Guerriero] is a mistress of the telling phrase or the revealing detail’ Spectator

  FORTUNES OF FRANCE

  ROBERT MERLE

  1 The Brethren

  2 City of Wisdom and Blood

  3 Heretic Dawn

  ‘Swashbuckling historical fiction’ Guardian

  TRAVELLER OF THE CENTURY

  ANDRÉS NEUMAN

  ‘A beautiful, accomplished novel: as ambitious as it is generous, as moving as it is smart’ Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Guardian

  A WORLD GONE MAD

  ASTRID LINDGREN

  ‘A remarkable portrait of domestic life in a country maintaining a fragile peace while war raged all around’ New Statesman

  MIRROR, SHOULDER, SIGNAL

  DORTHE NORS

  ‘Dorthe Nors is fantastic!’ Junot Díaz

  RED LOVE: THE STORY OF AN EAST GERMAN FAMILY

  MAXIM LEO

  ‘Beautiful and supremely touching… an unbearably poignant description of a world that no longer exists’ Sunday Telegraph

  THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT

  HELEN PHILLIPS

  ‘Funny, sad, scary and beautiful. I love it’ Ursula K. Le Guin

  THE RABBIT BACK LITERATURE SOCIETY

  PASI ILMARI JÄÄSKELÄINEN

  ‘Wonderfully knotty… a very grown-up fantasy masquerading as quirky fable. Unexpected, thrilling and absurd’ Sunday Telegraph

  BEAUTY IS A WOUND

  EKA KURNIAWAN

  ‘An unforgettable all-encompassing epic’ Publishers Weekly

  BARCELONA SHADOWS

  MARC PASTOR

  ‘As gruesome as it is gripping… the writing is extraordinarily vivid… Highly recommended’ Independent

  MEMORIES—FROM MOSCOW TO THE BLACK SEA

  TEFFI

  ‘Wonderfully idiosyncratic, coolly heartfelt and memorable’ William Boyd, Sunday Times

  WHILE THE GODS WERE SLEEPING

  ERWIN MORTIER

  ‘A monumental, phenomenal book’ De Morgen

  BUTTERFLIES IN NOVEMBER

  AUÐUR AVA ÓLAFSDÓTTIR

  ‘A funny, moving and occasionally bizarre exploration of life’s upheavals and reversals’ Financial Times

  BY BLOOD

  ELLEN ULLMAN

  ‘Delicious and intriguing’ Daily Telegraph

  THE LAST DAYS

  LAURENT SEKSIK

  ‘Mesmerising… Seksik’s portrait of Zweig’s final months is dignified and tender’ Financial Times

  Copyright

  Pushkin Press

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  London, WC2H 9JQ

  Original text © Nicolai Houm 2016

  English translation © Anna Paterson 2018

  The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland was first published as Jane Ashlands gradvise forsvinning in Norway, 2016

  First published by Pushkin Press in 2018

  Published by agreement with Copenhagen Literary Agency ApS, Copenhagen

  This translation has been published with the financial support of NORLA

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  eISBN 13: 978–1–78227–378–3

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