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Book Synopsis

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. In each of the women's lives, however, 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. Both 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 climateand whether this reality is all there is.

In the exquisite, wistful, slyly profoun

Present Tense Machine

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    A Paperback / softback by Gunnhild Øyehaug

    £14.40

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Fri 9 Oct 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher St Martin's Press
      Published 10 January 2023
      ISBN-13 9781250862983
      978-1250862983
      ISBN-10 1250862981

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      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. In each of the women's lives, however, 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. Both 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 climateand whether this reality is all there is.

      In the exquisite, wistful, slyly profoun

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