Beatles

by Lars Saabye Christensen

'"Beatles" is the story of Kim Karlsen and his three buddies, Gunnar, Ola and Seb - and, yes, they occasionally like to think of themselves as the Fab Four. They were born in 1951, and the story starts with the first wave of Beatlemania in Norway, in the spring of 1965. Each chapter tales a different Beatles song (or, near the end, post-Beatles solo songs) as its title and theme - all the way through the winter of 1972. There's drinking (lots of it), football, some love-fumblings (Kim has two girlfriends that he has to semi-juggle) and the sort of minor adventures that are part of growing up. "Beatles" is a well-written account of a generation, and of growing up in a specific time. It feels very real' - "The Complete Review".

'Beatles was Christensen's breakthrough book, achieving enormous success in Norway. It launched him on the journey to the pre-eminence he now enjoys, and which has spread throughout Europe with his best-selling family epic The Half Brother' Paul Binding Independent

Lars Saabye Christensen is Norway's leading contemporary writer. He is the author of 12 novels, as well as short stories and poetry. His international best-selling novel The Half Brother has been published in nearly 30 countries. It won the Nordic Prize for Literature as well as the Norwegian Bookseller's Prize, was shortlisted for the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, was long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and was chosen as one of the 25 Notable Titles of 2004 by the American Library Association. Lars Saabye Christensen lives in Oslo.