A Novel
She feels neglected and has been like that for many years. She lives in a relationship where she struggles with the basics, and she feels that life should not be like that.
She is alone and lonely in her life. She is married to a man who does not see her as the one she wants to be seen.
Then she meets a man with a radiant smile, a man who says that he will carry her on his hands, he will lift her and hold her high. He is a man who says he will be the one for her that no one has been for her before.
She is receptive to the courtesy and his beautiful smile; she is captivated by how he acts on her; he makes her feel like a queen.
This love story is told through three voices: First the despised husband, who for several days experiences the nightmare he never thought he would be thrown into.
The second part is told by the lover, the man from the north. He wants what he dreams of, and he thinks he knows how to get what he wants.
The question is whether the third narrator, the main character, allows herself to be dazzled, or whether she has the strength and courage to stand up to the lover’s charm and influence.
The Love We Had is a contemporary novel that tells the same story through three different pairs of eyes. The main character Eira stands between the two men and is drawn between the safe life in the family and the exciting, but not so safe moments she has with the man she is attracted to, Aslak. All three are ‘ordinary’ people who live ‘ordinary’ lives. But they are also very special people who live their very special lives, lives that are actually different from everyone else’s. It’s a game that takes place between different interests, but everyone still longs for the same thing, in their own way. Who is fooling whom? Who controls this game? Who steals the energy from the other? Who steals the peace of mind from the other? -Is love what it can look like?
The time for publishing the novel The Love We Had is approaching. The text above is a description of the book on amazon.com. The Love We Had is an adaptation of the novel The Happiest Town in the World (which is no longer available for purchase). The most important chapters have been rewritten, and the action, characters and themes have become clearer. The novel tells a story from the perspective of two men and a woman. The main character in the story is a woman. It is probably fair to say that the novel has a clear female perspective, and the author’s reason for this is that women are very often exposed to men who do not behave well in relation to the women they are dating. This does not mean that the author thinks that all men are bad people, but it is still quite clear that men as gender individuals, as men, as boyfriends and as fathers generally have a long way to go. That being said, I do not mean that men in general are fools and deceivers. I know and know of many proper, honest and great men who are aware of their role both in love relationships and in family and work contexts.
The novel focuses on both parties, both genders, but the action and theme in the novel perhaps revolve more around the male role than the female role.
The action in the book takes place in our own time, the time we live in now.
The development in many societies when it comes to equality, equal rights for women and men and equal duties have not come as far as we might wish to believe.
7.08.2021 © Øivind H. Solheim