Jane Ashland is in the Norwegian wilderness, alone, without food, in a storm. A writer from the U.S., she knows exactly how to craft her own final scene: "Now, while she is still conscious, she must lock her fingers in a dramatic pose. Oh my God, it looks as if she tried to grab at something at the moment of death!... What should she reach for, how should she make it look?" What follows is an account of how she got there--camping with a local scientist in search of musk oxen, beginning and quickly ruining a relationship with long-lost Norwegian relatives, falling in love with a fellow writer in college and the tragedy that began her disappearance. Now, Jane is medicated, drunk and suffering from seizures, and readers learn how her life began to collapse, and how she pushed it the rest of the way.
The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland is compelling, tense and well-crafted. Like brushing away snow, Nicolai Houm slowly reveals the details of Jane's life; the narrative jumps around in time so that readers don't know the full story until the very end. Through all-consuming grief, Jane maintains a wry humor and self-awareness. With an author's eye, she recognizes what she's doing but can't prevent it, and she realizes that in life, unlike novels, events happen without reason. --Katy Hershberger, freelance writer and bookseller