Out Stealing Horses

Out Stealing Horses, by Norwegian author Per Petterson, was first published in 2003; the English-language translation by Anne Born was published in 2005. Told in the first person, the novel follows Trond Sander’s meditations on key events in his life and his acceptance of his advancing age and future death. Set in a remote forested area of eastern Norway, the novel moves back and forth in time between its present-tense setting in 1999 and Trond’s past, particularly the summer of 1948. It is in many ways a coming-of-age story, as Trond’s memories develop themes including the relationship between humans and nature, the importance of solitude for self-discovery, and the impacts of childhood experiences, memories, and history.

The Norwegian publication of the novel won the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize, and Born’s English-language translation won the 2006 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the 2007 Dublin IMPAC Award, which comes with one of the largest cash prizes in the literary world. A movie adaptation of the novel was released in 2019.

This guide uses the 2019 Graywolf Press Paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material depicts Nazi persecution of Jewish people and the accidental death of a child.

Plot Summary

Divided into three parts, the novel first explores Trond Sander’s memories of disturbing and fragmented events that occurred in the summer of 1948.