Hamish Hamilton scoops 'unflinching autofiction' debut from Danish author Qvortrup

Hamish Hamilton has scooped Into a Star, an "unflinching autofiction" debut by Danish author Puk Qvortrup, based on the author’s own experiences of grief and single parenthood. 

Editorial director Hermione Thompson bought world English rights from Laurence Laluyaux at Rogers, Coleridge & White. Into a Star will be translated into English by Hazel Evans and published in trade paperback and e-book in June 2024. The novel was first published in Denmark in 2019, and has since been translated into Swedish, German and Italian.

The synopsis says: "Puk was 26 years old, preparing for the birth of her second child, when her husband collapsed in the middle of his Sunday run. She dashed to the hospital, where Lasse lay unresponsive in a coma. He died a few hours later.

"Into a Star follows Puk and her young family in the first year after this tragedy, which shattered the ordinary life she imagined for them. As the days turn to weeks and months, Puk’s second son is born, her sister moves in, her relationship with her in-laws fractures and evolves. She slowly reckons with her memories of Lasse: how they met and fell in love, their adventures, their dreams for the future. And she navigates the miraculous, brutal, overwhelming days of early parenthood alone."

Thompson said: "Into a Star is a luminous meditation on loss and renewal. Despite the heart-breaking subject matter, it filled me with a sense of life’s beauty, and of the unexpected paths we take to happiness. I was first introduced to Puk’s writing by Hazel Evans – who is a beautifully sensitive reader of and translator for this book – and I am greatly in her debt for the tip-off!"

Qvortrup is a journalist, teacher and author. Her first novel, Into a Star (Grif Forlag) was published in Denmark in 2019, her second novel, Man and Child, was published in 2022, and she is currently working on her third. She said: "I don’t know anything about the meaning of life. The death of my husband was meaningless, and I insist on that. But finding words for the experience felt extremely meaningful to me.

"In the first weeks after he died, I clung on to my notebook as a desperate act of survival. But soon writing became a way to capture all the beauty that still remained in the world. I realised that I was writing about death only to write about life: which is so persistent, so beautiful, so worthwhile."

Evans added: "This has been one of the most rewarding translation projects I’ve had the pleasure of working on. Puk has a very playful way with words which feels quintessentially Danish, and I loved the challenge of capturing this in English. Into a Star is a novel to cry with, laugh with and feel all the feels with – and I did that as I translated it, inadvertently method-acting my way through each scene. I can’t wait for English readers to do the same!"