Norwegian tale of Pieces of Happiness to Transworld

Transworld has acquired Pieces of Happiness by Norwegian author and journalist Anne Ostby for publication in 2017. 

The book, subtitled A Story of Love, Hope and Chocolate, is the story of a recent widow living on a cocoa plantation in Fiji, who writes to four old school friends inviting them to leave behind life in the frozen north for life in the South Pacific.  

Marianne Velmans bought world English language rights for Doubleday and Black Swan from Chandler Crawford, representing Font Forlag in Norway.

Velmans said: "Pieces of Happiness is a book that made me laugh and cry, a book about female friendship, about community, about starting over. Who hasn’t dreamt about leaving the past behind for life on a tropical island, especially when it will involve chocolate?"

Ostby is a Norwegian newspaper journalist, the author of seven children's books, and the author of two novels for adults including Town of Love (Spinifex) about sex trafficking in India.

Ostby said: "I hope my book conveys a sense of respect for life lived, but also a sound belly laugh at all the things we really shouldn't worry  about. I wanted to write about the expectations and prejudices ruling the role of older women in the West, contrasting them with those in a completely different society. And I very much wanted to use Fiji as the setting, since I lived there for four years and am forever in love with the country and its people."