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A Novel
by Frode Grytten
In the spirit of Amor Towles and George Saunders, the renowned, bestselling Norwegian author Frode Grytten takes readers on a quietly epic journey: ferry driver Nils Vik's last route along the fjord, on what he knows will be his last day alive.
Nils Vik wakes up on November the 18th and knows it will be the day he dies. He follows his morning routine as voices from his past echo in his mind, and looks around the empty house one last time, before stepping onto his beloved boat.
His dog, dead these many years, leaps aboard with him, and then the other dead begin to emerge – from the woods along the fjord, from each of the ferry stops along the route, from his logbook full of memories and quotations and jotted-down notes about the weather conditions. The people from the past accompany him now, prodding him, showing him what he might have missed before, as he waits for his Marta, his late, remarkable wife, to finally join him on the boat again.
Winner of the prestigious Brage Prize, and considered to be Grytten's long-awaited masterpiece, The Ferryman and His Wife is the story of a quiet, yet utterly profound, life told in reverse. Timeless and absorbing, this is a novel about what we take with us – those moments that might seem insignificant as they happen but prove to be the most meaningful, in the end.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (11/27/2025)
I just started The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten . In contemplating a recent family death it is very timely for me.
-Anne_Glasgow
"The character of Nils conveys patience, wisdom, kindness, and love in a narrative that inevitably brings to mind the Greek myth of Charon, ferrying dead souls across the Rivers of Acheron and Styx to Hades… Against the harsh and beautiful Norwegian landscape backdrop, [Grytten] reveals the depth and complexity of ordinary lives in this outstanding novel, without even the briefest descent into sentimentality." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"The devastating English-language debut from Grytten...turns out to be a Dante-esque voyage...Grytten skillfully weaves his wistful protagonist's life story without ever leaning on sentimentality. This will linger long in readers' minds." ―Publishers Weekly
"Tenderly powerful and urgently contemplative, The Ferryman and His Wife is a profound exploration of what gives a life meaning. With remarkable creativity and piercing honesty, Frode Grytten guides us on a vivid and intimate journey through both the ferryman's fjord, and his memories. The story is breathtaking, unforgettable, and threaded with humble insights about the human experience. Upon turning the final page, I held the book to my chest with a shiver of gratitude." ―Sarah Damoff, USA Today-bestselling author of The Bright Years
"A heartfelt reckoning of a human life, with all that it entails. With a grounded, everyday touch, Grytten patiently weaves the slow tapestry of how a human being comes into being-through their relationships, not only with other people, but with the place itself and the lives that inhabit it." ―Lisa Ridzén, internationally bestselling author of When the Cranes Fly South
This information about The Ferryman and His Wife was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Frode Grytten had his big breakthrough in 1999 with the Brage Prize-winning novel Beehive Song. He is known throughout Norway for his short stories, but has returned to the novel form after over a decade with The Ferryman and His Wife, which was also awarded the Brage Prize, Norway's most important literary award, and his first book to be translated widely around the world.
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