{"title":"Thorvald Steen","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"white-bathing-hut-book-thorvald-steen-9780857428844","title":"The White Bathing Hut","description":"A novel about disability, family secrets, and Norway’s eugenic past.   The White Bathing Hut is a genetic detective story. The narrator uses a wheelchair because of an inherited illness that has caused his muscle tissue to degenerate, making him unable to walk. One day, he falls from his wheelchair. His family is away, his cell phone out of reach, and he has no choice but to lie on the floor of his apartment, dissecting his life, until help arrives. He recalls his parents’ reactions of shame and silence when, as a teenager, his illness was first diagnosed. Now in her old age, his mother remains stubbornly secretive. A chance call from a cousin provides the narrator with clues about his grandfather and uncle, whom he never met and who both also had the disease. His search for the truth about his heredity is given new urgency when his mother is diagnosed with cancer. He must persuade her to speak before she dies, for his own sake and for his daughter’s. The White Bathing Hut is an indictment of contemporary Norwegian society, which claims to abhor its history of eugenics, yet still seeks to control the lives of people with disabilities.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49742223540497,"sku":"NGR9780857428844","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0857428845.jpg?v=1751434763"},{"product_id":"little-horse-book-thorvald-steen-9781803094472","title":"The Little Horse","description":"This creative, beautifully constructed novel reimagines the final days of this Icelandic hero, providing a wonderful new perspective on the politics and culture of the period.   Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic politician, writer, and historian living during the twelfth century. He was a man of great political influence, and his writings are still researched and valued today. Snorri was killed on September 22, 1241, in Reykholt, where he lived the last years of his life, and The Little Horse is a novel about his final five days.   Snorri, knowing his end is near, begins to write a saga of his own life. He wants to refute all those who oppose him in Norway and Iceland and defend himself against rumors that he is power-hungry and a deceitful womanizer. He is haunted by the fear that his son Orækja will turn against him, and waits to meet Margaret, the woman he loves, who challenges him in every possible way. Meanwhile, assassins in the distance prepare to carry out their orders to end his life.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51052044779793,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51052047728913,"sku":"NIN9781803094472","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52111099822353,"sku":"NGR9781803094472","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1803094478.jpg?v=1751185034"},{"product_id":"valet-book-thorvald-steen-9781803096223","title":"The Valet","description":"A gripping historical novel that explores how the Fourth Crusade plundered Constantinople and forever changed the course of European history.   The year is 1204. Stripped of his power and held captive, Massimo Gasparino, once the most trusted aide to the Doge of Venice, pens a desperate secret letter to Pope Innocent III. His confession? He has witnessed the most egregious crime in human history: the deliberate diversion of the Fourth Crusade from Jerusalem to the heart of Christian Europe, Constantinople. As the city is ruthlessly plundered and its treasures shipped to Venice, Gasparino’s letter exposes the Doge’s shocking betrayal, a sin that irrevocably alters the course of history. But with his life and the fate of this explosive truth hanging precariously in the balance, can he get his message to Pope Innocent III before the Doge silences him forever?  The Valet is a tense, intimate drama of ambition, guilt, and the enduring shadows of a war that still resonates in today’s world.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52821304049937,"sku":"NGR9781803096223","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781803096223.jpg?v=1767866651"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-thorvald-steen.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}