In this dazzling new collection, the acclaimed Danish writer Dorthe Nors creates a series of intimate, psychologically acute portraits of individuals in states of emotional crisis: a woman’s attempts to cope with a recent breakup lead her to commit a deeply immoral act, a professor’s relationship with a much older woman takes a sudden sinister turn, a man who has grown resentful of his partner takes drastic action, and a young woman’s nostalgic memories of wild swimming draw her back to the water.

In attempting to escape the present moment, Nors’s characters must confront the impact of the past. In prose that is both elegantly spare and saturated with emotion, Nors explores the relationships that we have with others, and those we forge with ourselves, with characteristic empathy and insight.