Told in Bildøen’s signature lyrical prose, this story slowly unfurls the horrors of a national tragedy, while peeling back the layers of sorrow that infect relationships over time.

A few years after the deadly 2011 terror attack in Norway’s Utøya Island, Otto and Sofie are attempting to put the pieces of their life back together without their beloved daughter, who was murdered alongside countless other youths on one of the worst days in Norway’s history. Seven Days in August is the story of Otto and Sofie’s grief, painstakingly narrated over just one week—a window into their attempts to navigate a life together, face to face with their own helplessness and mortality.

"“Seven Days in August is a quietly gripping novel. . . . It is a book to be read slowly, but suddenly it’s over, because you were unable to put it down.”" - Groskrosverden