The Cold Song

“A magnificent novel, one of those novels that is so good that I wish I hadn’t read it yet, but still had it left to discover.”

—
Sydsvenskan
(Sweden)

“A dazzlingly well-turned book … With her new novel, Linn Ullmann shows that she has a piercing eye for present-day family life in the Nordic countries like few other contemporary writers.”

—Kathrine Lilleør,
Berlingske
(Denmark)

“Although her language sparkles and shines, although she has a ruthless eye for human failings, although she succeeds in imparting something vital to the vilest of relationships, I would still claim that Linn Ullmann’s strength lies in her structural command … Her distinctive quality as a writer is quite simply—grace. And there is nothing simple about that.”

—Jan Arnald,
Dagens Nyheter
(Sweden)

“A novel that makes you want to drop everything else. A highlight of the spring season.”

—RBB Kulturradio (Germany)

“Magnificently told by flashing back and forward in time, the novel is bleak, sad, emotional, and highly exciting.”

—
Berliner Morgenpost
(Germany)

“Some authors simply write well. Some characters just come to life. Some forms of discomfort, lies, and deception are given just the right distance and protection by two hard covers to be able to confront them. Linn Ullmann’s precise and distinctive prose is the stuff that makes a novel come alive.”

—Andreas Wiese,
Dagbladet
, Best Books of the Year 2011 (Norway)

“
The Cold Song
is fascinating, dense, profound.”

—Maria Laura Giovagnini,
Io Donna
(Italy)

“Psychologically sophisticated, captivating entertainment.”

—
Elle
(Germany)

“Reading
The Cold Song
was an unforgettable experience. The novel is a remarkably composed puzzle, where the fragmented structure is not an experiment in deconstructing the traditional novel form.
The Cold Song
is an ingenious game with structural elements. The characters … are real human beings and the depiction of their pain and sorrow serve as … an attempt at a healing process.”

—
ekultura.hu
(Hungary)

“The
Cold Song
is an intense and unsettling read.”

—
Kultblog.hu
(Hungary)

“Linn Ullmann condenses soft sounds, small gestures, and poetry into a splendid novel about the abyss of normality.”

—
Petra
(Germany)

“Compellingly told and thoroughly composed down to the most detailed ramifications.”

—
Schweiz am Sonntag
(Germany)

“Compelling. All the way to the last page.”

—Constanze Alt,
Ostthüringer Zeitung
(Germany)

“A skillfully constructed, exciting book about all that is kept secret in a family.”

—
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
(Germany)

“A magnificent, psychologically profound family novel that shows how minor lapses, secrets, and repressed desires can cause a major tragedy.”

—
Annabelle
(Switzerland)

“Ullmann writes about human relationships with near psychological X-ray vision … Sentences are often gossamer light, but just as often bitingly acerbic and filled with complex emotions. Her choice of words take the reader by surprise … 
The Cold Song
is a complex novel that shows how quickly things can disintegrate when one doesn’t pay attention … No matter how unpleasant the book may be to read (and it frequently is), one wishes to be part of Ullmann’s universe. Perhaps because she
describes us all too well … Ullmann is compassionate and empathic, with a big heart for all of her characters. She scrutinizes the most wretched and painful sides of our existence, holding them up to the light and pressing our tender spots with her gentle touch.”

—Ellen Sofie Lauritzen,
Dagsavisen
, Best Books of the Year 2011 (Norway)

“The poignant and powerful story of a family … 
The Cold Song
is the story of a dysfunctional family stumbling on, day by day … Shrouded in mystery, furtive, enigmatic. I, at least, found it difficult to put the book down … left tears in my eyes. Ullmann penetrates the vile, painful, and raw problems and challenges of human relations, and she does it with expertise. Pitch-black humor is one of her devices, and it is blacker in this novel than ever before.”

—Bjarne Tveiten,
Fedrelandsvennen
, Best Books of the Year 2011 (Norway)

“
The Cold Song
shows novelist Linn Ullmann at her very best.”

—Geir Vestad,
Hamar Arbeiderblad
, Best Books of the Year 2011 (Norway)

“Linn Ullmann has written a great and insightful novel … Every character is described with empathy and blindsiding psychological perception, with a story that is skillfully composed.”

—Johannes H. Christensen,
Jyllands-Posten
(Denmark)

“Linn Ullmann is a master at letting people and events hover and tremble between reality and something else … Has Linn Ullmann ever been so viciously funny as she is here?… 
The Cold Song
has breadth, but also a compelling Nordic gravity.”

—Lise Garsdal,
Politiken
(Denmark)

“Masterfully written about fragile love, deception, and guilt, and about the difficult art of protecting what is most precious.”

—
Uppsala Nya Tidning
(Sweden)

“[Ullmann] is a skillful writer … If one were to perceive traces of a literary inheritance, contemporaries such as Siri Hustvedt and Joyce Carol Oates, or classic authors such as Virginia Woolf, would immediately come to mind.”

—
Västerbottens-Kuriren
(Sweden)

“A terrifying novel that is difficult to put down … Ullmann combines keen everyday observations with an obscure crime, but the dialogues also pose a number of recurring philosophical questions. Where is the border between a lie and a narrative?… an alternately riveting, humorous, and thought-provoking novel that captivates.”

—Bjørn Gabrielsen,
Dagens Næringsliv
(Norway)

“Like a detective story, the young girl’s fate is slowly revealed and the intensity increases. Not one word or phrase seems redundant, the words flow easily between the pages with exceptional precision. Almost understated, with bizarre and humorous undertones, we are drawn into an Ullmannesque universe that we don’t want to leave.”

—Anja Rålm,
VG
, six out of six points (Norway)

“Linn Ullmann casts a wonderfully caustic eye on human flaws … With elegant circular movements Ullmann writes her way into all that one cannot talk about in a family … Grief is rude and defiant in
The Cold Song
, giving the story a uniquely odious power. The novel also presents delightful reprises in which Ullmann revisits scenes, formulations, and memories, lending rhythm to the text and showing that there is no definitive ending to the story of a life … [Ullmann] stands more in the tradition of the great bourgeois novel (Balzac, Stendhal, Lagerlöf) … A trace of Virginia Woolf can be heard in
The Cold Song
 … easy and compelling, [Ullmann] dissects human weakness, grief, and pain.”

—Margunn Vikingstad,
Dag og Tid
(Norway)

“In this book, Ullmann brilliantly exploits the full spectrum of possibilities offered by the polyphonic novel … 
The Cold Song
is a poignant novel about silence, ingeniously composed with open spaces.”

—Gro Jørstad Nilsen,
Bergens Tidend
(Norway)

“The story of a family, in a class of its own.”

—Sølvi Wærhaug,
VG
, Best Books of the Year 2011 (Norway)

“Linn Ullmann’s
The Cold Song
is a sophisticated psychological thriller.”

—
Göteborgs-Posten
(Sweden)

“With a light touch and tremendous empathy, Ullmann ranges among the perspectives of the three daughters … Ullmann’s sentences … are a pleasure to read and her deft modern sensibility is winning.”

—
New York Times

“Linn Ullmann’s
A Blessed Child
is a like a fine, long evening of light. There are all sorts of colors on the horizon, and even when the darkness becomes visible, there is still a place to turn to. This is a book for fathers and daughters, and for anyone who’s beguiled by the country of family. The language is clear and runs deep. The story is profound and touching. Together, they announce another great storytelling feat by Linn Ullmann. She reminds me of Berger, of Aciman, of Tóibín: no greater praise.”

—Colum McCann, author of
Let the Great World Spin

“Ullmann excels just as much as a satirist as a psychologist … passages here carry faint echoes of Virginia Woolf’s
To the Lighthouse
on the Baltic breeze … First affecting, then alarming, sometimes acerbically comic,
A Blessed Child
has an exhilarating candor and clarity in its grasp of family, period, and place.”

—Boyd Tonkin, literary editor,
Independent on Sunday
(UK)

“A delicate, haunting portrait of a fainthearted man trying his best to meet the end of life—and love—with a modicum of dignity and, yes, grace.”

—Bruce Bawer,
New York Times Book Review

“Ullmann’s mesmerizing, spare novel is a robust yet delicate account of that most prosaic, mysterious event of all. Comparable to Philip Roth’s magisterial Everyman, the humor is drier, the poignancy more overt, yet it is equally, quietly impressive.”

—Cathrine Taylor,
The Guardian

“Exquisitely written … As hallucinatory as August heat.”

—
Washington Post

“[Ullman]’s gift is for weaving the banal details of love, career, and family with the mystic world of dreams and ghosts into one seamless fabric … The hypnotic allure of the story adds to the reader’s eagerness to return to Stella and share the enigma of her final flight.”

—
New York Times Book Review

“Weird and wonderful … Ullmann has effortlessly established a distinct literary voice.”

—
Elle

“Magical in its imagery … Extraordinary.”

—
Boston Globe

“Surrealistic … in the original 1920s sense: as a work of art that blurs the borders between mundane reality and the reality of fantasies and dreams … Where Ullmann differs is in her humor … her snappy prose and cheeky attitude.”

—
Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Exquisite … The atmosphere and taut pacing make this an icily swift read, one whose chill lingers longer than a Scandinavian winter.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“A perceptive and sparkling new creation.”

—
New York Times Book Review

“The gift Ullmann gives her readers is her intelligence and wisdom about desire, love, and motherhood, and scene after scene of poignant, prickly prose.”

—
Boston Globe Sunday

“Her storytelling skills and sheer joy in performance shine on every page.”

—
Vogue

“Strikingly original … Reading this indelibly etched portrait of a family in crisis should keep many a reader awake, trying to finish it in one sitting before falling into their own restless sleep.”

—
Seattle Times

ALSO BY LINN ULLMANN

A Blessed Child

Grace

Stella Descending

Before You Sleep