My mother’s eyes were impossible to read, she did not make a sound.

The first thing my brother Mik said was: “This was what we were afraid of, we knew this could happen.” He said it simply and with clarity, unsurprised, and my father nodded, he agreed. Mik said something that he too understood, everyone agreeing to themselves, as if we had all prepared for this or considered it before, the thought having occurred to all of us, and in Nils, of course. Most likely a long time ago. When he lived in the forest, or perhaps the first times he was admitted.

At the time, we thought that the boy might not live to see old age, that he would never have children, marry, buy a house and car.

---

A brother dies, and Bók um sorg ( Søgan um Nils í skóginum) (Book of Grief (The Story of Nils in the Woods) is the story about the family left behind. About a mother who can’t do anything but cry, about an absent father, about siblings who are struggling to make sense of everything.

Skaranger writes with raw emotions about saving lives and about responsibility. She writes about fear and anger, but also about love, hope, and the light that nevertheless remains.