Translator
On the Calculation of Volume I
Tara Selter, a rare-book dealer, is travelling for work when 18 November begins to repeat. Unlike the people around her, she remembers every iteration, and she keeps ageing. Solvej Balle's novel, the first instalment of a planned seven-volume cycle, is Tara's written account of living outside ordinary time, including the strain on her marriage to Thomas, who wakes each morning knowing nothing of what came before. It treats the time loop less as a puzzle than as a way to examine solitude, attention, language and the physical world. Barbara J. Haveland's English version was shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize, which makes it a natural starting point for readers new to translated fiction.