A cool, sharp Norwegian novel about the brutal distance that can open up between mother and daughter.

Karin lives alone in Oslo, keeps herself emotionally unclaimed, and drifts through work, men, habits and old disappointments; her daughter Helene has married, had children, and built the kind of adult life that should look stable from the outside, which of course means it is already quietly leaking from the walls.

Hanna Stoltenberg’s debut novel is restrained in the best unnerving way: clean sentences, social discomfort, maternal failure, loneliness, sex and status. Translated from the Norwegian by Wendy H. Gabrielsen, Near Distance is short, precise and quietly awful — ideal for readers who like domestic fiction with a cold hand on the back of the neck. It was first published in Norwegian as Nada in 2019, with this English edition published by Weatherglass Books in 2023.

First English-language edition, Weatherglass Books paperback, 2023. Translated from the Norwegian by Wendy H. Gabrielsen. Very good condition, with light general shelf and handling wear.