The writing in this book was incredible, it captivated me from the opening few pages and kept me gripped until the end of the book. It was tragic and heavy in parts but beautifully written.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me access to an advanced copy of this book.

I did not finish this book. I found the writing style quite hard to read, it might have been a case of something lost in translation. However, there’s no denying that the characters and their stories did not succeed in engaging the audience.

This was an okay read. As others have said, it was very slow, and I felt it laboured in parts. The story itself was fine, and I really liked the premise, but it is difficult to fully enjoy a story when you find yourself drifting to think of other things.

"In the blue dusk of a spring evening, a man is drawn to a lonely, beautiful stranger across a station platform. She follows him home, and over one heady night of wine and cigarettes, recounts to him the devastating story of her life..."

First published in 1947, this Scandinavian novel is a feminist classic. You'll be drawn into the tale - eager to hear more of the rambling stream of consciousness told to a stranger. Nothing Grows by Moonlight tells the haunting tale of one woman's doomed obsession with her teacher when she was seventeen. He seems like a light in the dark, dull monotony of her life and family in a small town. Her mother has a dreary life and is happy with what she has. This woman wants more and takes more.

Torborg Nedreaas's Nothing Grows by Moonlight envelops readers in a narrative suffused with profound tenderness, conveyed through the intimate voice of its unnamed female protagonist. The novel begins in an almost strange, dreamlike haze—her voice drifting between confession and reflection, as if testing the waters of memory before fully immersing us in her story. ​The novel unfolds as she recounts her life's story to a stranger met at a train station, drawing readers into a poignant exploration of love, loss, and resilience. This initial uncertainty lingers until the second narrative voice—the listener at the railway station—takes over, grounding the tale in an unsettling yet compelling structure.

The protagonist's voice is marked by an unflinching honesty, laying bare her vulnerabilities and desires. Her clandestine affair is depicted with a rawness that captures the intensity of youthful passion and the subsequent anguish of unreciprocated love. ​These confessions ​are crafted with a delicate touch, allowing the narrator's tenderness to shine through even in moments of profound despair.

This ​a​lmost softness is further amplified as the protagonist confronts societal expectations and personal tragedies. Her reflections on ​h​er life are imbued with a gentle resilience, offering a nuanced critique of the societal norms that confine her. Through her introspective narrative, readers are invited to empathize deeply with her journey, experiencing the emotional landscape of a woman striving for autonomy in a restrictive world.

​T​he novel's lyrical prose enhances the narrator's tender voice, weaving a story that resonates with emotional authenticity. The exploration of themes such as forbidden love, societal judgment, and personal agency is rendered with a sensitivity that lingers long after the final page. Nothing Grows by Moonlight stands as a testament to the power of storytelling to evoke empathy and understanding, guided by the gentle yet profound voice of its central character.

First published in 1947, Nothing Grows by Moonlight by by Torborg Nedreaas is being re-released by Penguin Classics

This is the tale of a woman's soul-shattering love affair. Pretty much a monologue in its 208 pages. The publishers describe it as “an obsessive passion for her high school teacher consumes a small-town seventeen-year-old, her life spirals out of control, giving way to pregnancy, poverty and alienation.” And it is exactly that.

At its heart, this novel is a story within a story. A man wandering into a train station offers to help a solitary woman and ultimately takes her home with him. As the night unfolds, fuelled by cigarettes and schnapps, she lays bare the painful events from twenty years prior that led her to stand in that station, ready to follow a stranger for a fleeting escape and to unshackle herself from two decades of silence.

The depiction of a self-induced abortion was groundbreaking and startling at its time, leaving an indelible mark on readers. Yet today, I wonder if it resonates with the same weight—unless it serves as a clarion call against the [current] ignorant pro-life attitudes dominating the United States.

The novel’s subtle triumph lies in its exploration of political awakening and a powerful moral reckoning about responsibility and humanity. It’s a swift read, and the narrator's lyrical voice is captivating, poignantly illuminating the complexities of the female experience. I can see why it is a modern classic. Torborg Nedreaas delivers a masterclass in storytelling.

Thanks to Penguin Classics and Netgalley for the arc.

In the blue dusk of a spring evening, a man is drawn to a lonely, beautiful stranger across a station platform. She follows him home, and over one heady night of wine and cigarettes, recounts to him the devastating story of her life.
When an obsessive passion for her high school teacher consumes a small-town seventeen-year-old, her life spirals out of control, giving way to pregnancy, poverty and alienation. Here, darkness and light converge, and unrequited love blooms against the shadows of societal injustices, as she fights for autonomy: over her life, her mind and her body.

This is very depressing and probably not what I thought it would be. The story is quite slow and there was very little character depth. Not for me.

First published in 1947, I imagine it made huge waves as a social comment. Whilst the slightly creepy, mysterious way in which the protagonist relates the story is intriguing, after a while I found it a teensy bit monotonous. I was impressed by the patience of the man who found the beautiful stranger! The revealing of the life of the stranger is well-crafted, emotive in response to the obsession she had, the poverty she endured, but perhaps this would be better played out on stage.

This is an atmospheric and haunting novel of love, loss and betrayal. The novel opens with our unnamed narrator meeting an attractive and mysterious woman at a train station. Her age is indeterminable and she carries a powerful weight of emotion about her. He takes her back to his apartment and over the space of the night she tells him her tragic life story.

She embarks on a clandestine relationship with one of her teachers, Johannes. As passionate and overwhelming as her feelings are for him, this relationship quickly descends into a constant cycle of rejection and reunion. Johannes abuses his position of power and continues to play with her emotions even once he has married another. Nedreaas poignantly evokes the heartbreak of our female protagonist as she continues in this destructive coupling and yearns for Johannes - in spite of his poor treatment of her.

This book powerfully explores the themes of love, betrayal and abuse. It also examines the issues surrounding the identity of the women that do not conform (or indeed want to). Nedreaas certainly wasn’t afraid to peek under the surface of a woman’s right to make her own choices and abortion is presented in a very direct and detailed way. Although this book was first published in Norway in 1946, there is a vitality and relevance in the text that appeals to a 21st century audience. I really enjoyed this book!

This is the story of a woman who had quite an unusual life.
It is set in early twentieth century Norway.
The main character as a girl fell in love with an older man, who was a teacher.
She became involved with the teacher, but they were never really a couple.
The style is typical of the type of story that would be told in the days that this book was written (1940s).
There are lots of hints that the setting is Norway, although this is never stated.
The bulk of the story is told, whilst consuming large quantities of wine, to a man that she has met at a railway station.
Although the story is clearly dated now it reflects life as it it was in the time of the setting.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Scandinavian literature and can put up with things written last century.
I liked it a lot, but there was a little too much repetition for me to say that I loved it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was very intrigued by this book. I was unaware it was a re-publication prior to reading. However, it was quite clear on reading it, that it was from a different time. I found this a very unusual read and regretfully did not finish it. I may go back to it in the future. At present, it has quite triggering themes to me and I don’t want my mind there. It has probably come at the wrong time too, in that I am seeking warmth and comfort in my reads just now.

I did find the style quite clunky also and its readability was not straightforward. There wasn’t a natural flow to it nor was the story itself fully capturing my attention. Given other reviews, it is interesting hearing others thoughts.

First published in 1947, but new in translation, this novel, is somehow presented as a feminist classic of Scandinavian literature. I think that’s pushing it!

There’s not much to the story. A man meets a stranger on a railway platform and she comes home with him. Over copious amounts of alcohol and endless cigarettes, she tells him her life story, starting with a relationship with a local school teacher when she was only 17. The following morning, after he has fallen asleep she is gone.

The lifetime she recounts is quite appalling in many ways featuring unsuccessful relationships, terminations and what appear to be endless days sobbing on her bed.

There are moments when her life appears to improve but she is unable to take advantage of them, so things drift from worse to worse. When she leaves the man’s house, the reader has no idea whether she is dead or whether life goes on for better or worse.

That lack of resolution is the weakness in the novel. We cannot tell if she has changed by this Ancient Mariner need to tell her story or even if it has helped her. The man is anonymous and there’s no worthwhile interaction between them.

So, in the end, it’s just a sad story about a woman whose life is blighted, possibly by men or possibly by her own emotional breakdowns. It is not a jolly read and, perhaps a pointless one, except in highlighting how life can grind a young woman down.

Here we have a classic read, originally published in 1947 in Norway that grips its reader instantly with two key interesting characters. When our unnamed male protagonist meets a woman on a train he is fascinated by her mysterious energy and appearance. The book allows us to see these two characters interact with one another as the mysterious woman details her life telling the man of her years of pain, heartbreak and difficulties as a woman. The harrowing history of her relationships leaves us readers completely hooked and hanging on her every word but also in deep though and feeling. This is a book that will keep you feeling a lot of emotions towards the woman detailing her life and for some we may even find ourselves connecting with her in ways we wish we didn't.

I did find that my interest dipped a little midway through and felt it could have been a little shorter but aside from that this is a book I know will stay on my mind and stay with me for years to come. It's a classic read that I would recommend especially for a female audience.

First published in Norway in 1947 the book has an intriguing premise. An unnamed man meets a mysterious woman in a train station. Over cigarettes and schnapps, she recounts her history, twenty years of pain starting with an abusive and unequal relationship with her teacher and a cycle of self induced abortions, constarint, abuse and shame. The story is very bleak but at the same time the writing becomes very dull and plodding about half of the way in. I think novel would work better as a short story or novella.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7033796540

What a beautiful, heartbreaking book. Everything about it will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC - I've very glad it has been translated into English so that I got to experience it.

First published in 1947, this book is still pertinent and laced with feminist themes.
The opening chapter was gripping and mysterious, and the overall plot told by the main woman character is timeless.
Had this been shorter and better paced, it would have been a more enjoyable read for me.
Nedreaas’ craft is compelling, though the story told via the same narrator the majority of the time was tiring at times.
3.5 stars.

This is one of those books which I appreciated in my head but which only intermittently engaged my emotions. It feels very stylised to me as well as hyper dramatic: a narrator describes taking a strange woman home one night and then she describes her life in a long monologue, culminating in anguish.

There are clear themes of social injustice and women as victims of both patriarchy and capitalism but surely that's not news?

In lots of ways this feels like it should be a play and the contours of the novel form don't necessarily make the best showcase for the contents. This would also probably have been far more shocking when it was published in the 1940s than it is today.

It's an intense text broken up by interjections of the first narrator which seem designed to remind us of the artificiality of the novel form and thus interrupts any deep identification with the woman, keeping us detached and aware of our position as readers/spectators listening in on this scene.

An interesting read.

Intense, breathtaking and devastatingly human. Brilliantly written and beautifully translated. At times it seems despairing: “we violate life itself. The world has been built crookedly with some kind of arrangement that makes lots of people into hunted animals and a few people so swimmingly well off they can’t understand why everybody else isn’t happy for them and willing to be beaten to death for their purpose.” But strong threads of hope and resilience are revealed to persist in the world: “Nature didn’t mean for things to be that way. Nature has enough for everybody” and in individuals “a hard pleasure from knowing there was strength hidden in my own consciousness, in my thirst for knowledge, in my sense of being a human being in a world full of human beings toiling in their chains.” Highly recommended. Special thank you to Penguin Press UK – Allen Lane, Particular, Pelican, Penguin Classics and NetGalley for a no obligation advance digital review copy.

I'm so sorry. I really wanted to like this book as it sounded intriguing and thought provoking. I didn't realise that it is a very old book rereleased and that may explain some of the issues I had with it as it did feel very dated which I thought was odd as I was reading it.
What could have been a beautiful story some how got boring.
It's possible that the translation didn't help.

I am grateful to Torborg Nedreaas, Penguin Press UK – Penguin Classics, and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. Here follows my review of the book.

The former English literature student in me was curious to read this book. The premise was interesting and a tale that may very well resonate with young people today who are dealing with unrequited love or, indeed, exploitation. The story follows an unknown woman spotted at the station by a man who is taken by this mysterious woman. He approaches her and guides her to his house where she proceeds to tell him the story of an obsessive infatuation she once had with her former teacher.

At first, the tale intrigued me. I was captivated how the book plodded along without naming the characters. Everyone was a he or a she, and the way you knew who was talking was from whether the writing was in italics or not. At first this was fun and novel. Given that the story has been slated to be about the effects of capitalism and patriarchist society on us, and in particular, women, I saw this storytelling device as indicative that the protagonist could literally be all the women. She could be you, your daughter, your friend…me!

However, I reached the 40% mark and found the book grew quite tiresome. The main character behaves as though she is in a trance-like state in that she has little awareness or care for the man in her presence, she just needs to tell her story. At the same time, she is sitting and smoking like a trooper, and the more she drinks, the more she goes off on a tangent and has to rein herself back in. In all honesty, as much as I wanted to hear all the details of this relationship, I was unable to dedicate any more time to her seemingly tipsy state, and I certainly did not want to reach a fully inebriated state. I also found that once the originality of using purely pronouns for the most part wore off (we do learn the lover’s name eventually), the inability to give everyone a name and a face kept me distant and unable to fully absorb and relate to the characters. The fact that the book contained a substantial number of errors did not help either. Words that contain ‘ff,’ ‘fi,’ and ‘ver’ were often misspelled from where these configurations were missing e.g., office became oce, first became rst, and over was simply o. It just became burdensome and zapped away the remaining possible enjoyment that might have been had.

I would not discourage anyone from reading this story. In the right headspace, having now had a dose of the book, I may even return to it in the future, albeit from a research perspective as it does make for a good study piece. The reader most likely to appreciate this book will be no stranger to Penguin Classics. They are also likely to enjoy the type of books presented for Writing Awards like the Booker Prize i.e., clever, and literary books, and translated texts, this book originally being written for a Norwegian audience. Consequently, at this time, I personally find the book to be below average with room for improvement and rate it 2/5, although I do ask you to note that I did not finish the text before coming to this conclusion.