On the Calculation of Volume I

Tara Selter has slipped out of time.





Every morning, she wakes up to the 18th of November. She no longer expects to wake up to the 19th of November, and she no longer remembers the 17th of November as if it were yesterday.





She comes to know the shape of the day like the back of her hand - the grey morning light in her Paris hotel; the moment a blackbird breaks into song; her husband's surprise at seeing her return home unannounced. But for everyone around her, this day is lived for the first and only time. They do not remember the other 18ths of November, and they do not believe her when she tries to explain.





As Tara approaches her 365th 18th of November, she can't shake the feeling that somewhere underneath the surface of this day, there's a way to escape.



Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and Winner of the Nordic Council Prize for Literature, On the Calculation of Volume I is the first volume of the poetic, page-turning European masterpiece about one woman's fall through the cracks of time.



'Absolutely, absolutely incredible.' Karl Ove Knausgård

'A total explosion.' Nicole Krauss

'Unforgettable.' Hernan Díaz

'Breathtaking.' Chetna Maroo

'Brilliant.' Jon McGregor

'Absolutely marvellous.' Lauren Groff





** A NEW YORKER AND PARIS REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR **



Solvej Balle was born in 1962 and made her debut in 1986 with Lyrefugl (Lyrebird.) She went on to write one of the 1990s' most acclaimed works of Danish literature, Ifølge loven (1993) ('According to the Law: Four Accounts of Mankind', translated by Barbara Haveland.) On Calculation of Volume is Solvej Balle's return to literary stardom after nearly 30 years.





Barbara J. Haveland (b. 1951) is a Scottish literary translator, resident in Copenhagen. She translates fiction, poetry and drama from Danish and Norwegian to English. She has translated works by many leading Danish and Norwegian writers, both classic and contemporary, including Henrik Ibsen, Peter Hoeg, Linn Ullmann and Carl Frode Tiller.