they by Helle Helle

they by Helle Helle

They go for a walk by the playing fields, the anemones are out. 

In the small Danish town of Rødby, a mother and her sixteen-year-old daughter live uneventfully, each day marked by routine and a quiet intimacy. Together, they are a family; complete, content – and fragile.

When the mother begins to feel unwell, everything and nothing changes. They go about their lives, talk about anything but the diagnosis. The daughter takes tentative steps into adulthood. Still, illness – and the possibility of loss – cast an expansive shadow over the rituals of daily life.

they is a tender and piercing exploration of a mother–daughter relationship, brought into startling focus by Helle Helle’s distinctive, immediate prose.

'You laugh and laugh, cry and cryNot bawling or sobbing, but quiet and intense. That's what it's like reading Helle Helle.'

‘Every sentence is significant, and you have to take time to imbibe the moods and read the details and their indirect characteristics, what they reveal about the characters and their thoughts.’ 

‘Helle has enchanting gifts as a storyteller.’ 

'One of Scandinavia’s finest authors.'

‘Without redundant words or extensive expeditions, but absolutely not without humour, she conveys the daily life and existential emptiness in the outskirts of Denmark.’

‘Helle Helle’s new novel shines with linguistic precision and elegance.’

Helle Helle was born in Denmark in 1965. She is a graduate of the Danish Academy of Creative Writing and the author of a number of novels, as well as two collections of short stories. She is one of Scandinavia’s most original writers, with a career spanning three decades, from her debut Example of Life (1993) to her most recent novel Hey Hafni, published in 2025 to rave reviews. Her books have been translated into twenty-four languages.

Martin Aitken is an acclaimed translator of Scandinavian literature, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Hanne Ørstavik and Olga Ravn. He has received the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Translation Prize, the US National Translation Award in Prose and the PEN America Translation Prize, among other awards. His translations have also appeared on the shortlists of the DUBLIN Literary Award, the US National Book Awards and the International Booker Prize.