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In the early hours of April 7 1990, a catastrophic fire broke out on board the ferry Scandinavian Star, a passenger ferry traveling between Oslo and Frederikshavn. Inadequate crew preparedness combined with malfunctioning fire doors aided the spread of the fire, while deadly hydrogen cyanide gas released from combusting laminates caused the deaths of 159 individuals. Initially, the disaster was attributed to a passenger—a truck driver with a history of arson. Given that this individual also perished in the incident and was unable to refute himself, the complete facts about the disaster remained hidden for a long time. Only in 2020 that a comprehensive documentary revealed the blaze was probably set deliberately as part of an insurance fraud.

Asta Olivia Nordenhof's Literary Series: A Glimpse

Within the first volume of Asta Olivia Nordenhof's epic sequence, the preceding volume, an unnamed narrator is riding on a public transport through Copenhagen when she observes an older man on the street. As the vehicle drives away, she experiences an “eerie sense” that she is carrying a piece of him with her. Compelled to retrace the route in pursuit of him, the character enters a landscape that is both alien and deeply familiar. She presents readers to Maggie and Kurt, whose relationship is tested by the pressures of their conflicted pasts. In the concluding section of that book, it is suggested that the root of Kurt's discontent may stem from a poor financial decision made on his account by a individual referred to as T.

The Devil Book: A Unique Approach

The Devil Book opens with an lengthy poetic passage in which the writer describes her challenge to write T's story. “Within this second volume,” she states, “we were supposed / to trace him / from youth up until / the evening / when he sat waiting for / the news that / the fire / on the Scandinavian Star / had effectively been / ignited.” Burdened by the undertaking she has assigned herself and disrupted by the global health crisis, she tackles the story obliquely, as a form of parable. “I came to think / that I / can do / anything I want / so this / is my work / this is / for you / this is / an erotic thriller / about entrepreneurs and / the devil.”

A narrative slowly emerges of a woman who experiences quarantine in the UK capital with a virtual stranger and during those weeks tells to him what occurred to her a ten years earlier, when she accepted an offer from a figure who claimed to be the evil entity to grant all her desires, so long as she didn't doubt his intentions. As the elements of the dual narratives become more intertwined, we begin to believe that they are one and the same—or at minimum that the nature of T is multiple, for there are demonic forces all around.

There is another fire here: an ardent, magnetic dedication to writing as a political act

Pacts and Consequences: A Thematic Examination

Literature instruct us that it is the dark figure who does deals, not a divine being, and that we enter into them at our risk. But what if the protagonist herself is the malevolent force? A third narrative comes finally to light—the story of a young woman whose childhood was scarred by mistreatment and who spent time in a mental health facility, under duress to conform with societal norms or endure further harm. “[This entity] understands that in the game you've created for it, there are a pair of results: submit or stay a monster.” A third way out is ultimately unveiled through a collection of verses to the darkness that are simultaneously a call to arms against the influences of wealth and power.

Connections and Readings: From Fiction to Real Events

Numerous UK readers of Nordenhof's series novels will think right away of the London tower tragedy, which, though unintentional in origin, shares parallels in that the ensuing disaster and fatalities can be linked at in part to the devil's bargain of putting profit over people. In these first two books of what is projected to be a seven-book sequence, the blaze on board the ship and the chain of fraudulent business deals that culminated in mass murder are a ominous underlying element, revealing themselves only in brief glimpses of detail or inference yet projecting a deepening influence over all that occurs. Some individuals may question how far it is possible to interpret The Devil Book as a stand-alone piece, when its purpose and meaning are so deeply bound into a larger whole whose final form, at present, is uncertain.

Experimental Writing: Ethics and Aesthetics Intertwined

Some individuals—and I count myself as among them—who will fall in love with Nordenhof's endeavor purely as written art, as truly experimental literature whose ethical and artistic intent are so deeply interlinked as to make them inextricable. “Write poems / for we need / that as well.” Another kind of blaze exists: an intense, magnetic devotion to the craft as a political act. I will continue to pursue this series, wherever it goes.