THE INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNER
**GUARDIAN BEST TRANSLATED FICTION 2025

**'Beautifully written and thought-provoking, this stayed with me for a long time' DAILY MAIL

'Uplifting, gentle ... each page is made marvellous. Grytten's characters are intriguing, unique and reassuringly flawed' TIMES

How would you spend your last day? And whom would you spend it with?

Ferryman Nils Vik chooses to head out onto the fjord, as he has for many years. Today, the 18th of November, his trip is different. As his trusty boat reaches the sea, a lifetime of passengers join him from beyond the grave, among them his rescue dog, the American photographer he thought of as his friend and young Jon Anderson, whose funeral Nils attended. But Nils is truly waiting for just one passenger: his beloved wife Marta, whose absence has marked each day since her passing. Approaching the end of his journey, his expectation grows - will he be reunited with her too?

Timeless and heartbreaking, The Ferryman and His Wife is a contemplative celebration of life, for readers of Fredrik Backman, Elizabeth Strout and Sarah Winman.

'A heartfelt reckoning of a human life' Lisa Ridzén, bestselling author of When the Cranes Fly South

'Saturated with tenderness, achingly real and profoundly moving**' Anne Michaels, Booker-shortlisted author of Held**

Translated by Alison McCullough

Autorentext

Frode Grytten is a Norwegian writer and journalist. He is the author of the Brage Prize-winning novels Beehive Song and The Day Nils Vik Died (translated into the English as The Ferryman and his Wife), as well as several short story collections and two children's books.

Alison McCullough is a Norwegian-to-English translator and writer. Her recent translations include The Widow by Helene Flood, Reptile Memoirs by Silje Ulstein and Lean Your Loneliness Slowly Against Mine by Klara Hveberg, which was longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize 2022. She lives in Stavanger, Norway.