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“An ingenious pocket universe.” —Caitlin Horrocks, The New York Times Book Review
"Gunnhild Øyehaug is a magician of the highest rank."—Catherine Lacey
On an ordinary day in Bergen, Norway, in the late 1990s, Anna is reading in the garden while her two-year-old daughter, Laura, plays on her tricycle. Then, in one startling moment, Anna misreads a word, an alternate universe opens up, and Laura disappears. Twenty years or so later, life has gone on as if nothing happened, but in each of the women’s lives, something is not quite right.
Both Anna and Laura continue to exist, but they are invisible to each other and forgotten in each other’s worlds. Both are writers and amateur pianists. They are married; Anna had two more children after Laura disappeared, and Laura is expecting a child of her own. They worry about their families, their jobs, the climate—and whether this reality is all there is.
Genre: Literary Fiction
"Gunnhild Øyehaug is a magician of the highest rank."—Catherine Lacey
On an ordinary day in Bergen, Norway, in the late 1990s, Anna is reading in the garden while her two-year-old daughter, Laura, plays on her tricycle. Then, in one startling moment, Anna misreads a word, an alternate universe opens up, and Laura disappears. Twenty years or so later, life has gone on as if nothing happened, but in each of the women’s lives, something is not quite right.
Both Anna and Laura continue to exist, but they are invisible to each other and forgotten in each other’s worlds. Both are writers and amateur pianists. They are married; Anna had two more children after Laura disappeared, and Laura is expecting a child of her own. They worry about their families, their jobs, the climate—and whether this reality is all there is.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Present Tense Machine is a book for those who have felt themselves grieving something just beyond their comprehension, or anyone who suspects they're living in a parallel universe. Gunnhild Oyehaug is a magician of the highest rank, one who can make reality itself shimmer and splinter before coming back into focus, clearer than ever." - Catherine Lacey
"Oyehaug is splendidly clever . . . But she's also thoughtful, using her elaborately conceived, interconnected narrative spirals to ask questions about the relevance and importance of stories, and about connections between the literarily lived life and the literally lived life. Simultaneously, she inquires about and, in spite of everything, enacts the divine power of language to create." - Claire Messud
"This gently humorous and slyly elegiac novel resonates with the reader long after it is over, like the last masterfully struck chord on a piano. Winding through deft meditations on the big bang and the origins of language, avant-garde musical compositions and UFOs, I was deeply moved by how Gunnhild Oyehaug reveals the the yearning and the reverence we feel for the alternate lives we do not live, the love we might have known." - Mary South
"Oyehaug is splendidly clever . . . But she's also thoughtful, using her elaborately conceived, interconnected narrative spirals to ask questions about the relevance and importance of stories, and about connections between the literarily lived life and the literally lived life. Simultaneously, she inquires about and, in spite of everything, enacts the divine power of language to create." - Claire Messud
"This gently humorous and slyly elegiac novel resonates with the reader long after it is over, like the last masterfully struck chord on a piano. Winding through deft meditations on the big bang and the origins of language, avant-garde musical compositions and UFOs, I was deeply moved by how Gunnhild Oyehaug reveals the the yearning and the reverence we feel for the alternate lives we do not live, the love we might have known." - Mary South
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