‘The Discoverer’, the third volume of Jan Kjærstad’s award-winning trilogy, once again follows celebrity Jonas Wergeland who now has served his sentence for the murder of his wife Margrete.
The third volume finds Jonas aboard the Voyager, a small boat exploring the reaches of the great Sognefjord in Western Norway. Also on board, are four young people engaged in a multi-media project to chart all aspects of the fjord – its geography, people and history. But, like the space probe the boat is named for, Jonas’s personal journey of discovery reaches far beyond the usual confines of time and space. With all the breathtaking prowess of a master juggler, Jan Kjærstad throws episode after episode from Jonas Wergeland’s life into the air and holds them, suspended, like planets in the solar system. And the reader, once again, is drawn into Wergeland’s universe, and taken on a journey – this time with his daughter as a guide – to discover finally the truth about his life, and what led to the death of his wife.
Jan Kjærstad is one of Norway’s most acclaimed writers. His trilogy ‘The Seducer’, ‘The Conqueror’ and ‘The Discoverer’ (Arcadia) has achieved huge international success and won him the prestigious Nordic Council Prize, Scandinavia’s highest literary honour.
‘The Discoverer’ by Jan Kjærstad, translated from Norwegian by Barbara J. Haveland, is published by Arcadia on 26 March, priced 12.99 in paperback original.