As she did so beautifully in her novel Brightly Shining, Ingvild Rishøi trains a spotlight on struggling families in Norway during its darkest days in Winter Stories--three brief, unforgettable tales.
Rishøi takes readers into each of the three narrators' dilemmas, using present moments to spark flashbacks revealing what led each to their situation. The narrator of "We Can't Help Everybody" is a mother who has received no child support in three months, who works hard and loves five-year-old daughter, Alexa. She means to use 45 of her last 60 kroner to pay bus fare for herself and Alexa. They'd planned to walk home, but the girl has wet her underpants, and it's a rainy December night. Then they pass a beggar, and Alexa wants to give him money. Even though her mother replies, "we can't help everybody," she gives him a 20-kroner coin, although she means to drop him a 10-kroner coin. They can warm up in the nearby shopping center, she thinks. When a stranger overhears her explaining to Alexa that they don't have enough to buy new underwear, he gives them 200 kroner; Rishøi has brought them full circle, a kind deed paid forward.
A newly freed, formerly incarcerated man wants only to see his son and make him comfortable in "The Right Thomas." Thomas's attempt to buy a pillow for his son's overnight visit nearly overwhelms him, and he is lured by a warm bar. It's there that a woman who pined for Thomas in middle school helps him on his way home before his son's arrival.
In the third and final tale, "Siblings," 17-year-old Rebekka must keep her seven-year-old sister and four-year-old brother safe. She plans to take them to the summer cottage of her best friend, Cecilie. Except Rebekka forgot about the gate at the end of the driveway, and now the snow is deepening as they walk from the bus stop. Once again, a kind stranger helps.
Rishøi links the tales thematically through well-placed turns of phrase, in Diane Oatley's eloquent translation from the Norwegian. Thomas falls in love with his son's mother as much as her peaceful home; Rebekka associates Cecilie and her cottage with calm. Both Thomas and Rebekka "have a plan" to return to those places of serenity, seeking them outside rather than within themselves. In each of Rishøi's stories, chaos halts for a moment, whether by fate or serendipity. She suggests that, whatever may come, perhaps, just for today, that is enough. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: In three unforgettable stories of people struggling to survive on the edges of Norwegian society, strangers provide kindness.