Really enjoyed this chilling (literally), isolated tale of a woman’s escape from an abusive marriage into her work, a research trip by herself on a remote Norwegian peninsula, which sees her become entangled in the lives of the ghosts of the folks living there in the 19th century. I’ve also read The Looking Glass Sisters by Gabrielsen, which was equally good at using isolation and remote settings to create a fierce sense of unease.

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Tracking the migratory patterns of seabirds only consumes part of the narrator’s thoughts. In the Arctic, there are huge swathes of time to fill, plenty of time for less-than-welcome thoughts to ruminate. The narrator’s lover has promised to come out and spend time with her, but frustratingly keeps delaying their plans. This sends the narrator further into the arms of the ruthless atmosphere, the ghosts that reside there.

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Ankomst also provides a feminist perspective of a woman choosing her career over stay-at-home motherhood, a decision which receives a fair amount of backlash from the men in the book. She’s self-sufficient and pragmatic in the face of things (ex husbands, ghosts, ship captains with designs) that could threaten her.

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A good one for a winter’s night, translated seamlessly by Deborah Dawkin.