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During the early hours of the 7th of April 1990, a catastrophic fire broke out aboard the ferry Scandinavian Star, a passenger ferry traveling between Oslo and Frederikshavn. Insufficient staff training combined with jammed safety doors aided the propagation of the fire, while toxic cyanide gas emitted from burning laminates led to the loss of 159 people. Initially, the disaster was attributed to a passenger—a lorry driver with a history of fire-setting. Since this suspect too died in the incident and was not able to defend the accusations, the full truth regarding the disaster remained concealed for a long time. Only in 2020 that a comprehensive investigation revealed the fire was likely set intentionally as part of an fraud scheme.

Asta Olivia Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star Series: A Glimpse

In the first volume of Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star series, the preceding volume, an unnamed narrator is traveling on a public transport through the Danish capital when she observes an elderly man on the sidewalk. As the bus moves away, she feels an “uncanny feeling” that she is taking a part of him with her. Compelled to repeat the journey in search of him, the character enters a setting that is both alien and strangely known. She introduces readers to Maggie and Kurt, whose connection is tested by the pressures of their conflicted pasts. In the concluding section of that volume, it is implied that the root of the character's disaffection may originate in a disastrous investment made on his account by a man referred to as T.

The Devil Book: A Unique Approach

The Devil Book begins with an lengthy poetic passage in which the narrator explains her struggle to compose T's narrative. “Within this volume, two,” she writes, “we were meant / to follow him / from childhood up until / the evening / when he sat anticipating for / the news that / the fire / on the ferry / had successfully been / set.” Overwhelmed by the undertaking she has set herself and derailed by the global health crisis, she tackles the tale obliquely, as a type of allegory. “I came to think / that I / can do / whatever I want / so this / is my book / this is / for you / this is / an sensational story / about businessmen and / the dark force.”

A tale gradually emerges of a female character who spends quarantine in the UK capital with a virtual stranger and during those days tells to him what occurred to her a ten years earlier, when she accepted an proposal from a man who claimed to be the evil entity to grant all her wishes, so long as she didn't question his motives. As the elements of the dual narratives become more intertwined, we start to suspect that they are one and the same—or at the very least that the identity of T is multiple, for there are devils all around.

Another blaze is present: an ardent, compelling commitment to writing as a form of activism

Deals with the Devil: A Thematic Examination

Classic stories teach us that it is the dark figure who does bargains, not a divine being, and that we engage in them at our peril. But suppose the narrator herself is the malevolent force? A third storyline eventually emerges—the story of a young woman whose early years was scarred by abuse and who spent time in a psychiatric hospital, under duress to comply with social expectations or endure further harm. “[This entity] understands that in the scenario you've created for it, there are two results: submit or remain a beast.” A third way out is ultimately unveiled through a collection of verses to the darkness that are also a rallying cry against the influences of capital.

Connections and Readings: From Literature to Real Events

Numerous UK audience members of Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star books will think immediately of the London tower fire, which, though unintentional in origin, bears parallels in that the ensuing tragedy and loss of life can be attributed at in part to the dangerous trade-off of prioritizing financial gain over people. In these first two volumes of what is planned to be a multi-volume series, the fire aboard the ship and the series of deceptive transactions that culminated in multiple deaths are a ominous underlying element, showing themselves only in brief flashes of information or inference yet casting a deepening shadow over everything that occurs. Some individuals may question how much it is feasible to interpret The Devil Book as a independent work, when its purpose and significance are so deeply tied into a larger narrative whose ultimate shape, at present, is uncertain.

Experimental Writing: Ethics and Aesthetics Fused

Some individuals—and I count myself as among them—who will fall in love with Nordenhof's endeavor purely as written art, as properly experimental literature whose moral and creative purpose are so deeply entwined as to make them inseparable. “Compose verses / for we need / that too.” Another kind of blaze exists: a passionate, attractive devotion to the craft as a statement. I intend to continue to follow this series, no matter where it leads.