{"product_id":"hafni-says-by-helle-helle-9781923106758","title":"Hafni Says","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHafni says: I don’t want to be me.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eI want to change who I am.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eI don’t know how to change who I am.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHafni says she’s getting divorced. To celebrate, she sets out across southern Denmark on a smørrebrød tour, to sample Danish classics, open-faced sandwiches and afternoon teas. A month later, she makes a phone call from a rest stop to the novel’s narrator – a main character from Helle Helle’s previous novel \u003cem\u003ethey\u003c\/em\u003e – to explain how she went wrong, and why a trip that was meant to take a week has ended up consuming an entire month. Her storytelling seems to incarnate how Hafni herself digresses – how her past unfolds as one long series of accidents and mishaps, the accumulation of which somehow became the life she is living.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInfused with Helle Helle’s subtlety and dark humour, and brought into English in Martin Aitken’s virtuosic translation, \u003cem\u003eHafni Says\u003c\/em\u003e explores the desire to be anyone but yourself – and what it means to try to make yourself anew.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003ethey\u003c\/em\u003e by Helle Helle:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Helle Helle will enchant readers…the luminous presence she brings to the present tense, the terse transfiguration of the ordinary into poetic strangeness.’ – \u003cem\u003eSydney Morning Herald\u003c\/em\u003e ‘Book of the Week’\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Precise, controlled and unforgettable…a book that begs the reader to slow down and take notice.’ – \u003cem\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Strangely, wonderfully absorbing…Slow your heart, slow your attention span – you’ll be mesmerised.’ – \u003cem\u003eThe Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Sweetly oriented to a disciplined, detached way of telling, Helle balances glassy brilliance with radiant feeling.’ – \u003cem\u003eThe Saturday Paper\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Whimsical, charming and tremendously moving…The patience of the narrative and steadiness of observation becomes a way of holding onto things, of staying with events that have already happened or are yet to come.’ – \u003cem\u003eABC Arts\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67709002612972,"sku":"9781923106758","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781923106758-hafni-says-1.jpg?v=1791841694","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/hafni-says-by-helle-helle-9781923106758","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}