What Kingdom

Fine Gråbøl’s narrator dreams of furniture flickering to life. A chair that greets you, shiny tiles that follow a peculiar grammar, or a bookshelf that can be thrown on like an apron. Obsessed with the way items rise up out of their thingness, assuming personalities and private motives, the nameless narrator lives in a temporary psychiatric care unit for young people in Copenhagen. This is a place where you ‘wake up and realise that what’s going to happen has no name’, and days are spent practicing routines that take on the urgency of survival – peeling a carrot, drinking prune juice, listening through thin walls. In prose that demands that you slow down, expertly translated by Martin Aitken, What Kingdom charts a wisdom of its own.

Fine Gråbøl’s narrator dreams of furniture flickering to life. A chair that greets you, shiny tiles that follow a peculiar grammar, or a bookshelf that can be thrown on like an apron. Obsessed with the way items rise up out of their thingness, assuming personalities and private motives, the nameless narrator lives in a temporary psychiatric care unit for young people in Copenhagen. This is a place where you ‘wake up and realise that what’s going to happen has no name’, and days are spent practicing routines that take on the urgency of survival – peeling a carrot, drinking prune juice, listening through thin walls. In prose that demands that you slow down, expertly translated by Martin Aitken, What Kingdom charts a wisdom of its own.

"An incredibly moving and gripping novel . . . so sure-footed, clear, vibrating, like chiffon or a cigarette." -- Olga Ravn An incandescent debut about young adults learning how to care for themselves -- from within the limits of the psychiatric system Perfect for fans of Tove Ditlevsen and devotees of Sylvia Plath In honest, crackling investigations of the psychiatric system and the young people trying to find their way, Gr?b l's soaring debut offers a critique of institutionalization and an urgent recalibrating of the language and conceptions of care. "I'm not inarticulate, but I leave language to the room around me," says Fine Gr?b l's nameless narrator as she dreams of furniture flickering to life in the room she occupies at a temporary psychiatric care unit for young adults. A chair that greets you, or shiny tiles of floor that follow a peculiar grammar of their own. Our narrator is obsessed with the way items rise up out of their thingness , assuming personalities and private motives. She also cannot sleep, and practices her daily routines with the urgency of survival - peeling a carrot, drinking prune juice - all an acutely calibrated exploration into having a home. Structured as a series of intimate vignettes like those of Olga Ravn, What Kingdom thrums with the swirling voices of this shared home. Hector blares Michael Jackson from the recreation room and recalls a past in Peru when his psychoses were treated with exorcism. The town would shake the devil out of his small, teenage body before he was relocated to Denmark. Or Marie, who has lived in the temporary unit since she was eighteen, has no idea that her mother lives just four floors below in a permanent care unit. Echoing the aching writings of Janet Frame on electroconvulsive therapy, or Linda Bostr?m Knausg?rd's mythical meditations on silence and mental health, Fine Gr?b l renders a delicate and deep uncoupling from the world.

"An incredibly moving and gripping novel . . . so sure-footed, clear, vibrating, like chiffon or a cigarette." -- Olga Ravn An incandescent debut about young adults learning how to care for themselves -- from within the limits of the psychiatric system Perfect for fans of Tove Ditlevsen and devotees of Sylvia Plath In honest, crackling investigations of the psychiatric system and the young people trying to find their way, Gr?b l's soaring debut offers a critique of institutionalization and an urgent recalibrating of the language and conceptions of care. "I'm not inarticulate, but I leave language to the room around me," says Fine Gr?b l's nameless narrator as she dreams of furniture flickering to life in the room she occupies at a temporary psychiatric care unit for young adults. A chair that greets you, or shiny tiles of floor that follow a peculiar grammar of their own. Our narrator is obsessed with the way items rise up out of their thingness , assuming personalities and private motives. She also cannot sleep, and practices her daily routines with the urgency of survival - peeling a carrot, drinking prune juice - all an acutely calibrated exploration into having a home. Structured as a series of intimate vignettes like those of Olga Ravn, What Kingdom thrums with the swirling voices of this shared home. Hector blares Michael Jackson from the recreation room and recalls a past in Peru when his psychoses were treated with exorcism. The town would shake the devil out of his small, teenage body before he was relocated to Denmark. Or Marie, who has lived in the temporary unit since she was eighteen, has no idea that her mother lives just four floors below in a permanent care unit. Echoing the aching writings of Janet Frame on electroconvulsive therapy, or Linda Bostr?m Knausg?rd's mythical meditations on silence and mental health, Fine Gr?b l renders a delicate and deep uncoupling from the world.