A Time for Everything, by Karl O. Knausgaard

(The book has been published in Great Britain with the title A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven.) This is a special, large scale novel of epic proportions, a type or genre that has almost disappeared; a novel about angels, which revisits old stories in the Bible – discusses Cain and Abel, Job and Noah, the death of Christ – and then returns to the present and describes a boy's troubled relationship to his father. Knausgaard’s novel is one that you will either love or find boring. It was nominated for the 2004 Nordic Council’s Literature Prize, the 2004 Norwegian Critics’ Prize, and longlisted for the 2010 IMPAC Award. A very special book by an author who is currently receiving much attention and is among the top sellers in Scandinavia.

Karl O. Knausgaard (Knausgård) was born in Norway in 1968. He was raised on Tromøya in Arendal and in Kristiansand, and studied arts and literature at the University of Bergen. He currently lives in Malmö, Sweden with his wife and their three children. He made his debut with Out of This World. This is his second novel and the first to be translated into English.

A Time for Everything starts in the 1560s. Antinous Bellori, a boy of 11, is exploring the woods above his home in the north Italian mountains when night falls. He comes across, unexpectedly, of course, a couple of angels high in the North Italian mountains, fishing with torch and spear.

This event is decisive in Bellori's life, just as encounters with angels have been for others throughout history. Beginning in the Garden of Eden and soaring right through to the present day, we revisit key moments when men have come face to face with these intermediaries of the divine: Cain and Abel cultivating their differences murderously; Lot's shame in Sodom; Noah's isolation before the Flood; Ezekiel tied to his bed, prophesying fiercely; and the death of Christ. Alighting upon these dramatic scenes - from the Bible and beyond - Knausgaard's imagination takes flight: the result is a dazzling display of storytelling at its majestic, spellbinding best.

Re-telling two Old Testament stories takes up half the book. It is a beautifully explored view of the life of people from the period of Genesis going about their average daily life - but with guns, with stoves, takes the reader further into exploration and finally, up-to-date with a troubling account of a boy's relationship with his father and the world in which we live.

A Time for Everything is wonderful, very thought-provoking, and very readable.

Praise for A Time for Everything / A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven:

"A strange and distinctive and completely intriguing novel. I hope it finds a good readership." (Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, UK)

"This theological fantasy is a heavenly delight [...] Not just strange, this is a quite extraordinary novel, and completely original." (Jonathan Gibbs, The Independent, UK)

"This demanding narrative on the nature of angels may become a cult book ... Knausgaard is at his best with finely observed natural description; he is also skilful with atmosphere." (The Guardian, UK)

"A vast, intriguing novel … The power it carries is perplexing … I recommend this brave and at times bizarrely beautiful book" (Niall Griffiths, Daily Telegraph, UK)

"With A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven, Knausgård has… definitely written his way into the major league of contemporary authors. His prose is determined and precise, with an alluring linguistic lustre and an overwhelming poetic concentration.” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany)

"Knausgård’s second novel has the wingspan of an archangel and unites the psychology of the Old Testament with modern deconstruction... His empathy with Cain’s love and fight against rejection is masterly psychological prose" (Politiken, Denmark)

"An original, magnificent and powerful novel ... A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven takes the reader to places she has never visited before ... Is one of those novels that you will find yourself wanting to talk about over and over again" (Aftenposten)

Links to books by Karl O. Kausgaard at Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Amazon CAN.