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During the late night of the 7th of April 1990, a devastating fire erupted on board the MS Scandinavian Star, a passenger ferry operating between Oslo and Frederikshavn. Insufficient crew preparedness along with malfunctioning fire doors aided the propagation of the fire, while deadly hydrogen cyanide gas emitted from burning materials led to the deaths of 159 people. At first, the tragedy was blamed to a passenger—a truck driver with a record of fire-setting. Given that this suspect also perished in the incident and was not able to defend himself, the full facts regarding the event stayed concealed for many years. Only in 2020 that a detailed investigation disclosed the fire was likely started intentionally as part of an insurance fraud.

Asta Olivia Nordenhof's Literary Sequence: An Overview

Within the initial book of Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star sequence, Money to Burn, an unnamed narrator is riding on a public transport through the Danish capital when she observes an older man on the sidewalk. As the bus drives away, she experiences an “uncanny feeling” that she is taking a piece of him with her. Compelled to retrace the route in search of him, the character finds herself in a setting that is both alien and deeply familiar. She presents us to Maggie and Kurt, whose connection is tested by the pressures of their conflicted histories. In the final pages of that volume, it is suggested that the root of Kurt's disaffection may originate in a disastrous financial decision made on his account by a individual referred to as T.

The Devil Book: A Unique Approach

The Devil Book begins with an lengthy prose poem in which the writer explains her challenge to write T's story. “Within this second volume,” she writes, “we were meant / to trace him / from youth up until / the evening / when he sat anticipating for / the report that / the fire / on the Scandinavian Star / had effectively been / set.” Burdened by the undertaking she has assigned herself and disrupted by the pandemic, she approaches the tale indirectly, as a form of parable. “I came to think / that I / can do / whatever I want / so this / is my work / this is / for you / this is / an sensational story / about entrepreneurs and / the dark force.”

A narrative slowly emerges of a woman who experiences quarantine in the UK capital with a near-unknown person and during those days tells to him what happened to her a ten years before, when she agreed to an proposal from a man who professed to be the evil entity to grant all her desires, so long as she didn't doubt his intentions. As the threads of the two stories become more interwoven, we begin to suspect that they are one and the same—or at minimum that the nature of T is legion, for there are demonic forces all around.

Another blaze is present: a passionate, compelling commitment to literature as a political act

Pacts and Consequences: A Literary Examination

Classic stories teach us that it is the devil who makes bargains, not God, and that we enter into them at our peril. But suppose the protagonist herself is the malevolent force? A third storyline 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 suffer further harm. “[This entity] knows that in the game you've set for it, there are two outcomes: submit or stay a beast.” A third way out is ultimately unveiled through a collection of verses to the darkness that are simultaneously a rallying cry against the forces of wealth and power.

Connections and Readings: From Literature to Real Events

Many UK readers of Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star books will reflect right away of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, which, though unintentional in origin, bears similarities in that the resulting disaster and loss of life can be attributed at least partly to the devil's bargain of prioritizing profit over human lives. In these first two volumes of what is projected to be a multi-volume series, the fire on board the ferry and the chain of fraudulent business deals that culminated in mass murder are a ominous background element, revealing themselves only in fleeting flashes of information or implication yet projecting a deepening shadow over all that occurs. Some individuals may doubt how far it is feasible to read The Devil Book as a independent piece, when its aim and significance are so deeply tied into a larger narrative whose ultimate shape, at this stage, is uncertain.

Innovative Prose: Art and Morality Fused

Some individuals—and I include myself as one of them—who will become enamored with Nordenhof's endeavor purely as written art, as truly experimental literature whose moral and creative purpose are so profoundly interlinked as to make them inseparable. “Write poems / for we need / that too.” There is another fire here: an intense, attractive commitment to writing as a political act. I intend to persist to pursue this literary journey, no matter where it goes.