'Bruising and brilliant-This is a great river of a book-Magnificent- Unique' Independent

Barnum and Fred are half-brothers, growing up in sixties Oslo. Barnum seems to have stopped growing, while his older half-brother, conceived after the rape of their mother and frustrated by learning difficulties, is sent away to a special school. Barnum's father is no better than a con man, giving the appearance of a travelling salesman; while the three women in the family (mother, grandmother and great-grandmother - the 'Old One') are all unwed mothers. Then the Old One is killed by a hit and run driver - and Fred becomes mute as a result. The two half-brothers embark on their separate courses, Fred becoming a boxer and Barnum a scriptwriter, hoping to create a new genre in film, 'the northern' (as opposed to 'western'). -This literary marvel tells the story of an ordinary Norwegian family in the 1960s, set apart by extraordinary family members, and of two half-brothers leading very different and separate lives, until they are brought together again at their mother's deathbed...