The Unseen

A beautiful and rich depiction of place and of family life … an outstanding achievement. * New European, Books of the Year. * This beautifully atmospheric novel, set on a small island off Norway, where weather and the power of the sea shape lives, is a compelling story of one family, generations of which have lived on the island that bears the family name. – Books of the Year * Glasgow Herald. * Jacobsen’s lyrical voice has been gorgeously translated into English by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw – Misha Hoekstra * The Riveter * Roy Jacobsen at his very best … A fantastic novel. * Dagbladet. * This is simply a beautiful and moving read … A master’s hand turning the small into the great. * V.G. * A modern masterpiece … A central novel in Norwegian literature. * Klassekampen. * The subtle translation, with its invented dialect, conveys a timeless, provincial voice … The Unseen is a blunt, brilliant book. – Tom Graham * Financial Times. * A profound interrogation of freedom and fate, as well as a fascinating portrait of a vanished time, written in prose as clear and washed clean as the world after a storm. – Justine Jordan * Guardian. * A beautifully crafted novel … Quite simply a brilliant piece of work … Rendered beautifully into English by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, The Unseen is a towering achievement that would be a deserved Booker International winner. – Charlie Connolly * New European. * Even by his high standards, his magnificent new novel The Unseen is Jacobsen’s finest to date, as blunt as it is subtle and is easily among the best books I have ever read. – Eileen Battersby * Irish Times. *

Roy Jacobsen has twice been nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literary Award: for Seierherrene in 1991, and Frost in 2003, and in 2009 he was shortlisted for the Dublin Impac Award for his novel The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles.