they

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ISBN: 9781923106574

Helle Helle, Martin Aitken

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English

Giramondo Publishing
02 January 2026

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Fiction in translation

'They go for a walk by the playing fields, the anemones are out.'

They

a mother and her sixteen-year-old daughter

live in an apartment above a hairdresser's shop in a small island town. Each day is marked by routine and quiet intimacy. They are so enmeshed, so alike in their manners and opinions, it can be hard to tell them apart.

Then the mother begins to feel unwell. They carry on with their lives, talk about anything but the diagnosis. The mother goes in and out of hospital, and the daughter, just starting high school, makes new friends

Tove Dunk, Hafni, Bob, Desert Boots

but remains essentially alone. Illness, and the possibility of loss, cast a growing shadow over her life.

Writing in a multi-layered, perpetual present tense, Helle Helle finds a tender voice for the comedy and awkwardness of her heroines' lives, rendered into riveting and affecting English by acclaimed translator Martin Aitken. they is an exquisite portrait of the fragile love between a mother and daughter, and a love letter to 1980s life on the island of Lolland, where the author grew up.

Praise for Helle Helle:

'Helle has enchanting gifts as a storyteller...the words so light they nearly float off the page.'

New York Times

'One of my favorite Danish writers

she's the master.'

Olga Ravn, The Guardian

'One of Scandinavia's finest authors.'

Dagbladet

'Helle Helle's minimalism isn't boring; it crackles with mystery. It's the everyday, and yet it's insistently beautiful.'

Weekendavisen

'You laugh and laugh, cry and cry. Not bawling or sobbing, but quiet and intense. That's what it's like reading Helle Helle.'

Politiken

By: Helle Helle
Translated by: Martin Aitken
Imprint: Giramondo Publishing
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 148mm,
Weight: 275g
ISBN: 9781923106574
ISBN 10: 1923106570
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 02 January 2026
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Helle Helle was born in Denmark in 1965. She is a graduate of the Danish Academy of Creative Writing and the author of eleven novels as well as two collections of short stories. She is one of Scandinavia's most original and best-loved writers, with a career spanning three decades. Her books have been translated into twenty-four languages. Her awards include the Danish Critics' Prize, the Danish Academy's Beatrice Prize, and the P.O. Enquist Award, and she is a recipient of the Lifetime Award from the Danish Arts Foundation. Martin Aitken is an acclaimed translator of Scandinavian literature, including works by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Hanne rstavik and Olga Ravn. He has received the American-Scandinavian Foundation's Nadia Christensen Translation Prize, the US National Translation Award in Prose and the PEN America Translation Prize, among other awards. His translations have also appeared on the shortlists of the Dublin Literary Award, the US National Book Awards and the International Booker Prize.