Mirror, Shoulder, Signal (Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017)

'Dorthe Nors is fantastic!' Junot Díaz

'Nors' writing is by turns witty, gut wrenching, stark and lyrical.' Los Angeles Times

Sonja's over forty, and she's trying to move in the right direction. She's learning to drive. She's joined a meditation group. And she's attempting to reconnect with her sister.

But Sonja would rather eat cake than meditate.

Her driving instructor won't let her change gear.

And her sister won't return her calls.

Sonja's mind keeps wandering back to the dramatic landscapes of her childhood - the singing whooper swans, the endless sky, and getting lost barefoot in the rye fields - but how can she return to a place that she no longer recognises? And how can she escape the alienating streets of Copenhagen?

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal is a poignant, sharp-witted tale of one woman's journey in search of herself when there's no one to ask for directions.

'Sonja is a thoroughly modern heroine... Comical and clever, with a knife-twist of uneasiness' -- The Times

'In this short novel Nors manages to condense the essence of life' -- Spectator

'Forty-something Sonja takes control by learning to drive - with hilarious consequences' -- Vogue

'Nors writes important modern women's fiction... she gives back agency and centrality to older women' -- Financial Times

'Nors's reinvention of experimental fiction is marvellous' -- Guardian

'A magnificent exploration of anxiety... Ms Nors's novel delivers a bracing antidote to the cult of hygge' -- Economist

'This novel reads like a sort of Danish Woody Allen: existential, domestic, gently humorous' -- Daily Mail

'This is a book for anyone, from Stockholm to Shanghai, who finds themselves living in a city, feeling unaccountably anxious, with "restless legs poised for flight"' - TLS

'So beautifully done, when I finished it I just wanted to go back and read it again' -- Preti Taneja, BBC Radio 4 Open Book

'Dorthe Nors is fantastic' -- Junot Diaz

'An unflinching eye makes the new queen of Danish literature stand out' -- Big Issue

'An insightful and compassionate novel' --Sunday Herald

'Astute and contemplative... Nors conjures a gently fraught reality in prose that evokes a life paused halfway between nostalgia for the past and hope for the future' -- Publishers Weekly

'Her narrative is bold and unflinching: a sort of breathless, daggered, confessional prose that grips the reader with emotional truth' -- Toast Magazine

'You sit on the roller coaster and let [Dorthe Nors] drive. You give in to the pure pleasure of reading, the exuberance of the language, the myriads of colourful characters' -- EuroLit Network

'Sharp, very funny... deftly combining wit with acute observation' -- A Life in Books

'The ending... is perfect: hopeful without sentimentality, allowing for love but not equating love with magic. And the love comes from a most unexpected place, one that made me smile with surprised delight' -- Elle Thinks (blog)

'A quick and offbeat read. It might just remind you of situations you've allowed to control you, and inspire you to find a way out' -- The Bookbag

'Dorthe Nors' novel is wonderful to read on different levels' --Miss Mesmerized (blog)

PRAISE FOR KARATE CHOP

'Gripping... how often can we honestly say that a book is unlike anything else? Yet here it is, unique in form and effect' -- John Self, Guardian

'Unsettling and poetic... Some pieces, like one about a four-pound tomato, are oddly beautiful; others are brilliantly disturbing' -- New York Times Book Review

'Dorthe Nors is a writer of moments - quiet, raw portraits of existential meditation, at times dyspeptic, but never unsympathetic' -- Paris Review 'What We're Loving'

'The short-short stories in Danish sensation Nors's slim, potent collection, Karate Chop ... Evoke the weirdness and wonder of relating in the digital age' -- Vogue

'In this collection of stories, Danish fiction comes off a little like Danish furniture, spare and sublime. Author Dorthe Nors knows how to capture the smallest moments and sculpt them into the unforgettable' -- Oprah Magazine

'Nors' affectless, matter-of-fact storytelling...is the perfect complement to the low-wattage desperation and inertia her characters feel' -- Los Angeles Times

'In the span of two pages, she is able to both build and unmake a character, achieving the same complexity that other writers require entire novels to establish. (...) Karate Chop is the first of Nors' books to be translated to English but certainly won't be the last' -- Booklist

'The intricately crafted stories in Karate Chop, from popular Danish writer Dorthe Nors, focus on ordinary occurrences ... and then twist them into brilliantly slanted cautionary tales about desire, romance, deception, and dread' -- Elle

'Nors has found her own space away from Copenhagen's literati' -- Independent

'Unpredictable, poetic and powerful, with comedy, hope and surrealism alongside mental illness, violence and tragedy' -- Curious Animal Magazine

'A playful experiment in finding mood and meaning in the staccato prose of the newspaper headline or social media status update' -- Bookanista

'In this beautifully packaged back-to-back collection, Pushkin Press presents a stunningly original new voice from Denmark' -- Booktrust

'[A] unique book... a fresh, brave voice... Nors creates an incredibly direct and forceful short story. Stick with her, it's worth it' -- We Love This Book

'Darkly funny and incisive... In these literary body-blows, Nors takes merciless aim at families, relationships and egos' -- FT

'Nors is the Danish doyenne of the genre... [She] presents a hauntingly familiar world, which presents unpredicted turns that are at once astoundingly disturbing and curiously beautiful' --The Lady