It makes her feel at peace to sit there. This is her place. She can see the fjord lying gray and heavy beneath the cold fog piling over Ekeberg. The Christmas trees are on the balconies with the remains of decorations hanging from their dry, brown branches. The Old One is sorrowful and afraid. Vera has still not said a word, and she’s carrying a child she can no longer conceal. Its an insanity that is driving them all quietly mad. Boletta lies awake at night and is losing weight, unable to forgive herself for letting Vera go alone to the drying loft. And every day Vera stands in front of the mirror, her head bowed, unable to look at herself. Soon she will have to have two mirrors. Who was it who broke in on her on that day of rejoicing? The Old One doesn’t know. She only knows this — he who did this, he who is the father of this child — he had his way, he ripped up and he destroyed, he brought the darkness down over Vera and deserves nothing more than even greater pain and an even greater darkness.
What do You think about The Half Brother: A Novel?
