Book Synopsis:
Anne’s life is rushing to an unexpected and untimely end. But her diagnosis of terminal cancer isn’t just a shock for her – and for her daughter Sigrid and granddaughter Mia – it shines a spotlight onto their fractured and uncomfortable relationships.
On a spur-of-the moment trip to France the three generations of women reveal harboured secrets, long-held frustrations and suppressed desires, and learn humbling and heart-warming lessons about how life should be lived when death is so close.
With all of Helga Flatland’s trademark humour, razor-sharp wit and deep empathy, One Last Time examines the great dramas that can be found in ordinary lives, asks the questions that matter to us all – and ultimately celebrates the resilience of the human spirit, in an exquisite, enchantingly beautiful novel that urges us to treasure and rethink … everything.
For fans of Elena Ferrante, Maggie O’Farrell, Mike Gayle, Joanna Cannon, Sally Rooney and Carol Shields.
One Last Time is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the links below.
My Review:
Wow Orenda have published some beautiful, tear jerkers this month. One Last Time is a beautiful, powerful and emotional book that I can’t stop thinking about.
The book follows Anne and her daughter Sigrid as they try and cope with their fraught relationship when Anne gets diagnosed with cancer. As the story unfolds the reader learns more about what happened in their past to affect their relationship and how much they love each other still.
The characters are beautiful creations and the chapters switch between their point of view which helps the reader to understand them more. Anne was a very interesting character and I admired her resounding bravery in a difficult situation. She is a bit stubborn at times but this actually made me love her more as it showed how strong she was, especially as she is able to keep her humour in the darker moments. Her love for her family just shine through and was lovely to read about. I wasn’t so sure about Sigrid though she did grow on me and I felt I started to understand her more as the book went on.
Overall I thought this was a fantastically written book which shines a light on how difficult a terminal illness diagnosis can be on a family. Despite the subject matter it’s not a book full of doom and gloom, there are some lighter moments and some heartwarming moments which helped make the book more uplifting. The ending was beautiful and has stated with me long after I have finished reading. I think this would make a great book club read as I feel there would be lots to discuss.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Helga Flatland is already one of Norway s most awarded and widely read authors. Born in Telemark, Norway, in 1984, she made her literary debut in 2010 with the novel Stay If You Can, Leave If You Must, for which she was awarded the Tarjei Vesaas First Book Prize. She has written four novels and a children s book and has won several other literary awards. Her fifth novel, A Modern Family (her first English translation), was published to wide acclaim in Norway in August 2017, and was a number-one bestseller. The rights have subsequently been sold across Europe and the novel has sold more than 100,000 copies. End of Life was published in 2020 and is currently topping bestseller lists in Norway.
About The Translator:
Rosie Hedger was born in Scotland and completed her MA (Hons) in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She has lived and worked in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and now lives in York where she works as a freelance translator. Rosie was a candidate in the British Center for Literary Translation s mentoring scheme for Norwegian in 2012, mentored by Don Bartlett.
Visit her website: rosiehedger.com and follow her on Twitter @rosie_hedger
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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