My Name is Folkví

Maria Hesselager’s critically acclaimed debut My Name is Folkví is set in an imagined viking era, shifting seamlessly between psychological and mythological layers. It’s a story of boundless sibling-love, of chance and signs, and about growing inexorably older.
The young woman Folkví and her brother Áslakr grow up inside the safe compound of the chieftain’s seat. The two have always been close, each other’s confidants and each other’s mirrors. So, when Áslakr comes home from his first winter raid with news of a fiancée, fifteen-year-old Gerd, Folkví is overcome with a raging fear of being left alone.
In the primary storyline, an unhappy, but determined Folkví stumbles through the summer of Áslakr’s engagement and marriage. Later, as a middle-aged man, Áslakr looks back on the dramatic events surrounding his wedding, trying to figure out what actually took place.
And at the foot of an old tree, the Nornes are seated, trying to keep track of the peculiar lives of humans.

About the author 

Maria Hesselager (b.1984) studied at the Danish School of Creative Writing. My Name is Folkvi is her debut novel. It was awarded the Bodil and Jørgen Munch-Christensens Debut Prize and was sold on preempt to Riverhead Books, US.