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In the early hours of April 7 1990, a devastating fire broke out on board the ferry Scandinavian Star, a car and passenger ferry traveling between Frederikshavn and Oslo. Insufficient crew preparedness along with malfunctioning fire doors aided the spread of the fire, while toxic hydrogen cyanide gas emitted from burning laminates caused the loss of 159 individuals. At first, the disaster was attributed to a traveler—a lorry driver with a history of arson. Given that this individual also perished in the incident and was not able to refute the accusations, the full truth about the disaster remained hidden for a long time. Only in 2020 that a detailed investigation disclosed the fire was likely set deliberately as part of an insurance fraud.

Asta Olivia Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star Series: An Overview

Within the first volume of Nordenhof's epic series, Money to Burn, an unidentified protagonist is riding on a public transport through the Danish capital when she notices an older man on the street. As the bus drives away, she experiences an “eerie sense” that she is taking a piece of him with her. Compelled to repeat the journey in pursuit of him, the narrator enters a landscape that is both alien and strangely known. She presents us to Maggie and Kurt, whose relationship is strained by the burdens of their conflicted histories. In the final pages of that book, it is implied that the root of Kurt's discontent may stem from a poor investment made on his account by a individual referred to as T.

The Devil Book: An Unconventional Narrative Style

The Devil Book opens with an lengthy prose poem in which the narrator explains her challenge to compose T's story. “Within this volume, two,” she states, “we were meant / to trace him / from youth up until / the night / when he sat anticipating for / the news that / the blaze / on the ferry / had successfully been / ignited.” Overwhelmed by the undertaking she has assigned herself and disrupted by the global health crisis, she tackles the tale obliquely, as a form of parable. “It occurred to me / that I / can do / anything I want / so this / is my work / this is / for you / this is / an erotic thriller / about businessmen and / the devil.”

A narrative gradually unfolds of a female character who experiences quarantine in the UK capital with a near-unknown person and over the course of those weeks tells to him what happened to her a decade before, when she agreed to an offer from a man who professed to be the evil entity to fulfill all her desires, so long as she didn't question his intentions. As the elements of the dual narratives become more intertwined, we start to believe that they are identical—or at the very least that the nature of T is multiple, for there are demonic forces everywhere.

Another blaze is present: an ardent, magnetic commitment to writing as a political act

Pacts and Consequences: A Thematic Exploration

Classic stories instruct us that it is the dark figure who does bargains, not God, and that we enter into them at our risk. But suppose the narrator herself is the malevolent force? A third narrative comes finally to light—the account of a young woman whose childhood was marred by abuse and who was placed in a mental health facility, under duress to conform with social expectations or endure further harm. “[This entity] knows that in the game you've set for it, there are a pair of results: surrender or remain a monster.” A third way out is ultimately unveiled through a series of verses to the darkness that are also a rallying cry against the forces of wealth and power.

Connections and Readings: From Literature to Real Events

Many UK audience members of Nordenhof's series books will reflect immediately of the London tower tragedy, which, though accidental in origin, bears similarities in that the resulting tragedy and fatalities can be attributed at least partly to the dangerous trade-off of prioritizing financial gain over people. In these first two volumes of what is projected to be a multi-volume sequence, the fire on board the ship and the chain of fraudulent business deals that ended in mass murder are a sinister underlying element, revealing themselves only in brief glimpses of information or inference yet casting a growing influence over all that occurs. Certain readers may doubt how far it is possible to interpret this volume as a independent work, when its purpose and meaning are so deeply tied into a broader narrative whose ultimate shape, at present, is uncertain.

Experimental Writing: Art and Morality Intertwined

Some individuals—and I count myself as one of them—who will fall in love with the author's project purely as written art, as properly innovative writing whose ethical and artistic intent are so deeply interlinked as to make them inseparable. “Write poems / for we require / that too.” Another kind of blaze exists: a passionate, magnetic commitment to the craft as a political act. I will continue to follow this literary journey, no matter where it goes.