Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes

What makes Petterson’s storytelling so mesmerising is his measured, gentle restraint

Scotland on Sunday

Written with humour and great clarity, it’s a short but strikingly memorable read

A Life in Books

A small book that packs a punch

Michael North, Independent on Sunday

Shot through with a tender, nostalgic quality

David Evans, Financial Times

If you loved Out Stealing Horses, you won’t be disappointed by his razor-sharp debut, which tells the story of Arvid’s childhood … The language is simple, beautiful and cleansed of literary affectation. There is not a single superfluous word

Ekstrabladet (Denmark)

These father-son stories bring us the first meeting with one of Nordic literature’s most lovable characters, Arvid Jansen. A mixture of Alfons Åberg, Ingemar from My Life as a Dog and in part Oskar from The Tin Drum ... New readers should begin nowhere but here

Euroman (Denmark)

There is both humour and tenderness in Per Petterson’s debut collection from 1987 … Petterson masters the art of writing simply of big subjects. As a reader, you have to read slowly and attentively to register everything, or read the book twice, which you gladly will

Kristeligt Dagblad (Norway)

If you loved Out Stealing Horses, you won’t be disappointed by his razor-sharp debut… The language is simple, beautiful and cleansed of literary affectation. There is not a single superfluous word

Ekstrabladet (Denmark)

There is both humour and tenderness… Petterson masters the art of writing simply of big subjects. As a reader, you have to read slowly and attentively to register everything, or read the book twice, which you gladly will

Kristeligt Dagblad (Norway)

This debut outing (from 1987) by the Norwegian novelist tells a tale of childhood c.1960 with tender, bittersweet poignancy

Boyd Tonkin, Independent

Dreamy and evanescent, [the stories] recall the opening pages of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Jon Michaud, Washington Post