I Refuse - Hardcover

Reading a Petterson novel is like falling into a northern landscape painting--all shafts of light and clear palpable chill. "Time on Per Petterson"

Subtly incisive . . . Clean sentence after clean sentence, Petterson conveys both the melancholy and the demi-pleasurable sensation of being fundamentally untethered. "Stacey D'Erasmo, The New York Times Book Review on Per Petterson"

Readers will find that they're in the hands of a master whose quiet, unforgettable voice leaves you yearning to hear more. "The Boston Globe on Per Petterson"

Per Petterson stands unsurpassed among contemporary writers for existential truth-telling. "Financial Times on Per Petterson""

"Reading a Petterson novel is like falling into a northern landscape painting--all shafts of light and clear palpable chill." --Time on Per Petterson

"Subtly incisive . . . Clean sentence after clean sentence, Petterson conveys both the melancholy and the demi-pleasurable sensation of being fundamentally untethered." --Stacey D'Erasmo, The New York Times Book Review on Per Petterson

"Readers will find that they're in the hands of a master whose quiet, unforgettable voice leaves you yearning to hear more." --The Boston Globe on Per Petterson

"Per Petterson stands unsurpassed among contemporary writers for existential truth-telling." --Financial Times on Per Petterson

A masterful new novel from Per Petterson, who "provides one of literature's greatest gifts . . . a welcome refuge from our cacophonous world" (NPR)

Per Petterson's hotly anticipated new novel, I Refuse, is the work of an internationally acclaimed novelist at the height of his powers. In Norway the book has been a huge bestseller, and rights have already been sold into sixteen countries. In his signature spare style, Petterson weaves a tale of two men whose accidental meeting one morning recalls their boyhood thirty-five years ago. Back then, Tommy was separated from his sisters after he stood up to their abusive father. Jim was by Tommy's side through it all. But one winter night, a chance event on a frozen lake forever changed the balance of their friendship. Now Jim fishes alone on a bridge as Tommy drives by in a new Mercedes, and it's clear their fortunes have reversed. Over the course of the day, the life of each man will be irrevocably altered. I Refuse is a powerful, unforgettable novel, and its publication is an event to be celebrated.