Faber snaps up first three in Balle's 'addictive' septology in a six-way auction

Faber has acquired the first three volumes of Solvej Balle’s septology, On Calculation of Volume, translated from the Danish by Barbara J Haveland, after triumphing in a six-way auction.

Emmie Francis, commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Sophia Hersi Smith at Copenhagen Literary Agency.

International rights have been sold to Grasset (France), Matthes und Seitz (Germany), Uitgeverij Oevers (Holland), NN Editore (Italy), forlaget Press (Norway), Shkupi Publishing House (Northern Macedonia), Anagrama (Spain), Wahlström & Widstrand/Bonniers (Sweden), Presing (Serbia) and New Directions (US).

Thirty years in the making, the first four volumes have been published by the author’s own press and initially hailed as a word-of-mouth phenomenon in Denmark. Last week, Balle won the 2022 Nordic Council Literature Prize for the first three volumes.

"Antique bookseller Tara Selter has fallen out of time and is stuck in 18th November," the synopsis reads. "She wakes up every day, and it’s the same date. Thus begins a hypnotic and an intimate exploration of memory, history, love and loneliness.

Faber stated plans to publish the first volume on 18th November 2024.

Francis said: "Karl Ove Knausgård has said of On Calculation of Volume ’What the best novels can do is open up spaces. And she has opened a space in time, and it is absolutely, utterly incredible. I think it’s a fantastic book.’ I would add that Balle has opened an immense world for all of us at Faber and offered us something truly lasting in literature. These books are indelible, powerful and addictive. I couldn’t be more proud to be trusted in bringing Solvej Balle’s words to English language readers the world around. No one will forget On Calculation of Volume."

Balle rose to fame in the ‘90s but then disappeared for almost 30 years. Her international breakthrough came with According to the Law: Four Accounts of Mankind (1993) and was published in more than 10 territories. Balle has self-published the first four volumes of On Calculation of Volume I-III. She lives on the island of Ærø.