HAYMAKER IN HEAVEN

The often difficult choices and circumstances faced by a Norwegian family in the late 19th century provide the starting point for this saga of family, devotion to the land, and immigration.

Hoem, an Ibsen Prize–winning playwright, poet, and novelist, admits that when he set out to write about his great-grandfather Nesje, he knew few of the facts of his life beyond a handful of dates and family stories. This fictionalized version of Nesje’s story begins in 1874 and recounts the hardships faced by the widowed tenant farmer, who is also a hired farmhand and jack-of-all-trades, in a small agrarian village in the west of Norway. The grueling routine followed by Nesje and his teenage son, Hans, is disrupted (pleasantly) by the arrival of spirited stranger  Serianna, a somewhat unconventional woman who ultimately marries Nesje and (re)starts a family with him. The family’s fortunes, as well as those of Serianna’s siblings, are subject to the whims of landowners, bankers, and the Nordic weather. Tales of opportunity in America, from acquaintances who had already emigrated, and differing opinions about whether to remain in a beautiful yet often unforgiving environment or venture to an unfamiliar country trigger divisions within families and even within households. Hoem’s family history is tethered to the turbulent history of the period as family members deal with the effects of industrialization, populism, and immigration. The plainspoken narrative emphasizes appreciation of the natural world and the small pleasures of rural life and, as the title suggests, a certain religiosity.

A reminder that the consequences of immigration touch those who stay as well as those who go.