On the Calculation of Volume III
'Thrilling . . . humming with new possibility.' Observer
Published on 18. November 2025
176 pages
978-0-571-38343-6 (ISBN)
Description
Tara Selter is no longer alone.
Tara Selter has lived the eighteenth of November 1,143 times when she notices a break in the pattern: a man has changed his shirt. The man is Henry Dale, and he remembers all the days that have come before. He knows that time has fallen out of joint. Now they are two of a kind - trapped in the eighteenth of November, but no longer alone.
Together they learn to share their present; their voices grow hoarse recounting their small battles against it and their bewilderment at the disintegrating world. Henry sees things differently to Tara: he does not think that time will put itself back together and he does not think that the future will come around. But he makes her realise that she is no longer the same person she was before this fault in time. And he makes her believe that there may be others to find within it.
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and Winner of the Nordic Council Prize for Literature, On the Calculation of Volume III is the third volume of the poetic, page-turning European masterpiece about one woman's fall through the cracks of time.
'Absolutely, absolutely incredible.' Karl Ove Knausgard
'A total explosion.' Nicole Krauss
'Extraordinary.' Daisy Johnson
'Unforgettable.' Hernan Diaz
'Breathtaking.' Chetna Maroo
'Brilliant.' Jon McGregor
'Absolutely marvellous.' Lauren Groff
Tara Selter has lived the eighteenth of November 1,143 times when she notices a break in the pattern: a man has changed his shirt. The man is Henry Dale, and he remembers all the days that have come before. He knows that time has fallen out of joint. Now they are two of a kind - trapped in the eighteenth of November, but no longer alone.
Together they learn to share their present; their voices grow hoarse recounting their small battles against it and their bewilderment at the disintegrating world. Henry sees things differently to Tara: he does not think that time will put itself back together and he does not think that the future will come around. But he makes her realise that she is no longer the same person she was before this fault in time. And he makes her believe that there may be others to find within it.
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and Winner of the Nordic Council Prize for Literature, On the Calculation of Volume III is the third volume of the poetic, page-turning European masterpiece about one woman's fall through the cracks of time.
'Absolutely, absolutely incredible.' Karl Ove Knausgard
'A total explosion.' Nicole Krauss
'Extraordinary.' Daisy Johnson
'Unforgettable.' Hernan Diaz
'Breathtaking.' Chetna Maroo
'Brilliant.' Jon McGregor
'Absolutely marvellous.' Lauren Groff
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
File size
0,34 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-571-38343-6 (9780571383436)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Solvej Balle was born in 1962 and made her debut in 1986 with Lyrefugl (Lyrebird.) She went on to write one of the 1990s' most acclaimed works of Danish literature, Ifolge loven (1993) ('According to the Law: Four Accounts of Mankind', translated by Barbara Haveland.) On Calculation of Volume is Solvej Balle's return to literary stardom after nearly 30 years.
Jennifer Russell and Sophia Hersi Smith are translators from the Danish based in Copenhagen. Their translations include My Work by Olga Ravn and There Lives a Young Girl In Me Who Will Not Die by Tove Ditlevsen. In 2020, they were awarded the American-Scandinavian Foundation's Translation Prize. Their translations have appeared in the Paris Review, the New York Times, Granta, Asymptote, and on stage.
Jennifer Russell and Sophia Hersi Smith are translators from the Danish based in Copenhagen. Their translations include My Work by Olga Ravn and There Lives a Young Girl In Me Who Will Not Die by Tove Ditlevsen. In 2020, they were awarded the American-Scandinavian Foundation's Translation Prize. Their translations have appeared in the Paris Review, the New York Times, Granta, Asymptote, and on stage.
