Praise for Brightly Shining:
Named a Best Book of the Year by Oprah Daily
“An emotionally packed little gem . . . As the story unfolds, your heart aches for the girls—but also for all of us in this world we’ve built, where money too often means more than kindness. And yet, there are small joys to be found, and a dose of Christmas magic is delivered too.”—Jen Doll, New York Times Book Review
“This tender novel does exactly what it promises: shines brightly despite the darkness.”—Oprah Daily, “Best Books of 2024”
“Charming . . . Rishøi’s choice to tell the story from the 10-year-old’s point of view proves fruitful, as Ronja conveys genuine hope amid the family’s dire circumstances along with hints of wisdom beyond her years. This has the feel of a classic holiday tale.”—Publishers Weekly
“Told with the clear-eyed candor of young Ronja, this beautifully crafted novel explores the challenges of a child’s unpredictable life with an alcoholic father and the band of kind people who try to help, including an older neighbor and the tree-stand worker about to become a father himself. This moving tale, with not a single wasted word, asks how we keep going when hope fades and life’s burdens become too much to bear, leaning on the power of imagination and connection to find a way forward.”—Booklist
“There is real magic in this charming novel about care, community, and the kindness of strangers. It is a deeply affecting story, beautifully told, that is sure to touch the hearts of many readers.”—Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo
“Ingvild Rishøi’s Brightly Shining is a dazzling contemporary fable of hardship and grit about two sisters who refuse to lose hope. Curl up with it for instant hygge and a warming of the heart.”—Lily King, author of Writers & Lovers
“Deceptively simple, deceptively innocent, told from the perspective of a bright-eyed, too-wise child, Brightly Shining has the power of a classic. You will read it in a single sitting, then carry it in your heart.”—Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History
“Brightly Shining feels fresh as spruce needles and ancient as bedrock. The clear and hopeful voice of Ronja slips easily into your heart and takes up residence like a breathless memory, like a song of unbearable beauty. I want to read more Ingvild Rishøi, and the sooner the better.”—Leif Enger, author of I Cheerfully Refuse
“Ingvild Rishøi creates distinct yet multifaceted characters. The protagonist Ronja is truly precious but it’s not only her that we are taken by as the story unfolds . . . A vivid story inducing laughter and tears, indignation and class-consciousness and, not least, a major dose of Christmas spirit.”—Adresseavisen (Norway)
“The portrayal of two sisters’ attempts to survive Christmas is masterful, inescapable and deeply moving.”—Aftonbladet (Sweden)
“Probably going to stay with me for the rest of my life . . . A magnificently beautiful story, at the intersection between Astrid Lindgren and H.C. Andersen . . . In the same league as the absolute best that has been written in Nordic literature.” —FriFagbevegelse (Norway)
“A little miracle of literature.”—Les Echos (France)
“Ingvild Rishøi performs an extraordinary balancing act . . . Through ten-year-old Ronja’s eyes, the author portrays a tragic upbringing—but with the help of Ronja’s lively imagination she succeeds in turning the novel into a magical Christmas story.”—Dagbladet (Norway)
“Rishøi doesn’t lose control for even a second. Her reins are tight, the words are exactly where they ought to be . . . Rishøi makes her vulnerable and tender Christmas story grow into the reader and take place there.”—Dagens Nyheter (Sweden)
“A poetic, magical Christmas tale that has the potential of becoming a modern classic.”—Bücher Magazin (Germany)
“With its finetuned and striking meditation of the sparkling Christmas dream—and for many icy reality—[it has] all the makings of a modern classic in its genre. Rishøi makes Ronja and Melissa timeless heroes in their search for a Christmas where the adult world’s ruthlessness, chaos, and short-lived sparks of benevolence no longer set the limits.”—Expressen (Sweden)
“[Ingvild Rishøi] has an unmistakable talent for conveying a lot with very few words. Meanings and feelings flow quietly between the lines and involves the reader to interpret the text for themselves . . . This story settles well and thoroughly in its reader and stays there. In any case, I’m left with a lump in my throat and a moved heart.”—Litteratursiden (Denmark)
“Simply the most heartbreaking Christmas story . . . Rishøi’s social realistic style is ingenious. With very few words, very few thin strokes and ultra-short dialogues, she succeeds in portraying Ronja’s inner emotions.”—Jyllands-Posten (Denmark)
2024-09-28
A Christmas story about a 10-year-old Norwegian girl who believes in miracles, and her 16-year-old sister.
“Hello, two motherless children and an alcoholic here, can you please give us two more weeks?” This is the phone call that Melissa resorted to just once, according to her little sister, Ronja. It’s the full truth, which the sisters try to keep hidden—from the neighbors, from the schools, and even from themselves. The story focuses on one Christmas season when, ever so briefly, their father dries out and gets a job as a Christmas tree seller before once again falling apart. As he disappears into bars, Melissa takes over his job, doing the work before and after school, but for less pay. Soon, her coworker Tommy brings Ronja in to convince customers to buy decorative wreaths so he and the girls can split the commission. She hawks them, saying that “all proceeds go to children in need!”—that is, she and her sister and Tommy’s soon-to-be-born child. But Ronja is too young to be working at the tree market, so her efforts must be kept secret from the owner. Though the sisters love their father, he’s unable to care for them and regularly put food in the fridge, so they’re desperate. But as much as they hope no one sees their situation, everyone does—and just a scant few try to help: There’s Aronsen, the across-the-hallway neighbor who feeds Ronja a few meals and irons her Christmas costume. The caretaker at school who shares his lunch with Ronja every day. Ronja’s friend Musse and his dad, who find her wandering in the cold and try to get her sister to take her to the emergency room. Ronja is convinced that when things are at their worst, a miracle can happen, because sometimes they just do. But then again, sometimes they don’t.
A heart-wrenching tale of children trying their utmost to take care of each other.
