A Postcard for Annie
by Ida Jessen
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Pub Date 28 Jun 2022 | Archive Date 3 Mar 2022
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Description
Ida Jessen follows the inner lives of several women on the brink, or the sidelines, of catastrophe in this prize-winning collection of stories
Written with the same narrative generosity, the same belief in the dignity and voice of her characters as Marilynne Robinson
From the winner of the Lifetime Award from the Danish Arts Foundation and the 2017 Critics’ Choice Award, Ida Jessen’s A Postcard for Annie traces the tangled emotional lives of women facing moral dilemmas.
A young woman witnesses a terrible accident with unexpected consequences, a mother sits with her unconscious son in a hospital room, a pair of sisters remember their mother’s hands braiding their hair.
In seaside tourist villages and in snowy cities, turbulence destabilizes composed lives, whether through outright violence between strangers or habitual domination between loved ones.
Jessen fills each story with bracing passages that teem with the living world, only to become concentrated in the unfixed, vacillating matter of a human psyche caught between silence and speech, paralysis and action.
Advance Praise
“In A Postcard for Annie Ida Jessen has honed to perfection her own quite unique form of psychological realism, in a work in which, once more, the women take centre stage; in which secrets, irrational forces and often anything but sensible explanations prevail—and in which she proves herself to be a brilliant depictor of people who find themselves in situations that are both familiar and far-out.” --Danish Literary Magazine
“Danish writer Ida Jessen’s A Postcard for Annie has at its heart a possible suicide and the reaction of witnesses, especially the narrator--a fascinating narrative with various unexpected twists.” --The Irish Times
Praise for Jessen’s A Change of Time, translated by Martin Aitken
“In A Change of Time, Ida Jessen has crafted a masterpiece of the epistolary novel told in diary entries. Each log is rich with detail ... Here, one-liners—beautifully translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken—are deeply felt.” --Bibi Deitz, Bookforum
“The text shines as an honest reckoning with the death of a spouse—but one in a deeply companionless marriage—and the life of two people who shared little but space... Jessen, the Danish translator of Marilynne Robinson, among others, proves to have a keen Robinsonian streak of her own. She writes with the same narrative generosity, the same belief in the dignity and voice of characters that might usually be dismissed.” --Joel Pinckney, The Millions
“Wit and vivid descriptions are presented in equal measure, as issues of sexual desire and the need for both solitude and companionship come to the fore. An engaging, honest, and beautifully written look at love, loss, and self-realization.” --Kirkus
“Jessen is a talented and empathetic writer (and kudos must be given to translator Aitken, whose translation is supple and luminous), and has imbued a quiet story about a woman finding herself after her husband’s death with poignancy and stunning humanity.” --Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Imagine picking up a woman’s diary and trying to decipher her character. Imagine teasing out enough from the details to understand her life, her loves, and the circumstances that have made her who she is… Ida Jessen’s novel A Change of Time brings this story to life with spare, yet beautiful, prose superbly translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken.” --M.K. Tod, Washington Independent Review of Books
“Weaving together diary entries, poems, letters (both opened and unopened) and song, Ida Jessen’s A Change of Time, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken, is a stirring reflection on death and mourning, loneliness, and female identity in a changing 20th century Denmark.” --Asymptote Journal
“A Change of Time is a book of masterful restraint, and this restraint is a kind of tenderness. It is a book that understands that desire permeates everything - nothing human can be cleansed of it; and that sometimes love clings most inextricably to the smallest places - misjudgment, invisibility, loneliness. It is a book that deepens and dignifies both our innocence and our fallibility.” --Anne Michaels
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781953861221 |
| PRICE | US$18.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 180 |
Featured Reviews
Sue B, Reviewer
I enjoyed Ida Jessen’s A Change of Time so much that I raced to get my hands on this collection of short stories and am delighted with it. A series of snapshots of poignant moments in women’s lives are told here with the sensitivity and intensity I expected, and deliver an emotional punch. Those that stood out for me are instances of love and care unrequited - for a husband, a son - and the pain that causes.
I was particularly taken with the first in the collection, An Excursion, in which a woman struggles in her marriage with a man turned cold and critical, understanding that it is only hope for a happier future that keeps her going.
‘Where did she find what it took to want to be alive?
It came from hoping, it was as straightforward as that. But her hope was not yet a bright song of spring. It was a deep bass tone that followed her around. Even when it was barely audible it was still there, at the bottom of things. If she listened only superficially, she would have thought it was grief.’
‘If she were to be how he wanted her to be, she would ossify. He held her back. He tied her down. He obliterated her when she tried to reach out to him. Oh, how often she had imagined a life without him; no one could dream of divorce the way she could. She danced around him, pillar of wood or stone that he was; she invoked him, blamed him for the sorrows of her life, and loved him. It all came from herself, but on her own her most human characteristics would deteriorate and die. She would lose the desire to get up in the mornings and get dressed, eat, speak to others. Staying alive would be all there was left.
Without her hope she was nothing. It happened to people that they dwindled away into nothing.’
The translation is immaculate and feels just right for the tone I think Ida Jessen intended.
With thanks to Archipelago via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
Asmaa A, Reviewer
It is a lovely collection of short stories about people experiencing different situations in life.
I loved " the argument" and a " a postcard card for Annie" .
Most of the stories describe a situation that changed a person's life or that was always marked in their heads.
I loved the quick-paced writing style and how events move rapidly without missing the important parts needed to understand the story.
The only problem I had was the difficulty in reading the names of the places, otherwise the stories are very entertaining.
Daniel H, Reviewer
“A Postcard for Annie” - Ida Jessen (translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken)
Published on 10th May by @archipelagobooks, thanks to them and @netgalley for letting me read an advance copy!
Award-winning in Denmark, and translated beautifully by Martin Aitken, “A Postcard for Annie” collects six stories of difficult emotional situations, complex moral stances, and the choices we make (or don’t) that lead to unexpected consequences.
Jessen’s stories are dense and psychologically complex, so keeping up can be tough at times. Opening story “An Excursion”, for example, starts with a wife writing, then crumpling up, a note announcing her departure, then weaves back to show the events that lead to this course of action, riding the course, how what attracted her at first started to dislodge in her mind, the relationship turning jealous and toxic. It’s mentally battering, while also rewarding re-reads with extra details and nuances that could be overlooked the first time.
“December is a Cruel Month” starts with a woman ruminating on a bus about a life, until she witnesses a tragic event that sends her down a different path, leading to one of the stories I enjoyed most. The one story I feel the strongest about, without doubt, is “Mother and Son”, the story of a young man falling off the tracks and a mother trying her best to understand and support him, even when his actions become more and more questionable. It’s a tale of separation, elements of toxic masculinity and waywardness, and had my favourite line of the whole collection:
He twists his face slightly, a grimace that spans the gap between the boy he used to be and the boy he has become. The former wants to answer, the latter forbids it.
I can see why this collection won awards, because the writing quality is so high, and I think this one would be liked by a lot of my followers. It’s deep and reflective, microscopic on the little details of life with smooth prose. If I’m honest, it didn’t fit with me at the moment I read it, but I was going back over it while writing this review and came to respect it more and more, and I truly think it’s one to check out.
Tiffany S, Reviewer
These stories are SO well written. Descriptive, beautiful, poetic, sad. I didnt sit down and read them all in one sitting. They are the type of stories that are more appreciated when in the right mood.
I could see them being made into a TV show like Modern Love was. In my head i envisioned the same actors.
I dont have any constructive criticism! It was great the way it was!
Thank you!
Diana H, Reviewer
These stories are incredibly human. Ida Jessen carefully examines the turning point in the lives of different women, focusing on the subtleties of losing control. Fleshing out their portraits in moments of crisis, Ida Jessen’s strong point is her mastery of the short story form and her use of psychological realism. We intimately know these women. We are them. We see them walking on the street.
✨We follow Tove’s sense of identity disintegrating in a toxic marriage.
✨The murder of another working late in a Co-op shatters her family and the community.
✨A middle-aged couple is haunted by their past and the passing of time.
✨Witnessing a tragic accident changes the course of Mie’s life.
✨The turbulent relationship of a mother with her son, whose outbursts of violence she manages to ignore and eclipse with her love.
✨The mystery of a recluse couple, owners of a bookshop in a small town.
Slices of life that make us ponder on our own lives. Are we in control of our destinies? How do we behave in extreme situations? Can pain be a catalyst for growth?
There are a couple of inaccuracies (for instance Lisbet’s name is written as Lisbet and Lisbeth in the same story).
Janelle W, Reviewer
A collection of 6 excellent short stories about womens lives at different points in time, reflections on relationships, relationships that have become distant, mothers and sons, and more. The two that really got to me (I found a frown on my face as I was reading, I couldn’t look away!) ‘December is a Cruel Month’ about a young mother who is killed at her workplace, a local shop and ‘Mother and Son’ about a mothers relationship with her eldest son who can’t hold down and job and is so disrespectful towards her yet she continues to worry and love him. I found both stories quite devastating but the whole collection is a great read.
translatedgems �, Reviewer
A Postcard for Annie is a woman-centric short story collection that paints a portrait of women at the edge of change. They are teetering between inertia and motion, trying to hold on to a love that remains unfulfilled.
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Jessen's narratives focus on the inner life of the protagonist which let us explore the characters' psyche and in turn allows us to examine their motivation as the plot unfolds.
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The six stories each depict a woman on the eve of transformation, grappling with a life they seem to not have full control of. Despite the contemporary setting in Denmark, they reminded me of Edna Pontellier from The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I could find pieces of her in each woman which made me enjoy this collection even more.
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This isn't the first translation that I read by Aitken, and I am as always delighted. I look forward to devouring more books by Jessen.
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"But as yet she was only halfway in and halfway out, her new life still much like the old. She felt awkward and embarrassed, and for the time being the joy she felt remained inside her and would not be let out."
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"Only in moments of utter sincerity, when she was completely undisturbed, as she was now, could she acknowledge the way things stood. If she were to be how he wanted her to be, she would ossify. He held her back. He tied her down. He obliterated her when she tried to reach out to him."
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"She took some measure of comfort in this, the knowledge that in time everything came round again, and that land would become sea, sea would become land, and the area in which she lived, though wiped away in two hundred years time, would in all probability emerge once more in ten thousand."
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I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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