Ingvild Rishøi is one of Norway’s most beloved contemporary storytellers – a writer whose tales of girlhood, family and fragile hope have earned her cult status across the Nordic countries. Her novel Brightly Shining – Dua’s Monthly Read for December – carries the hallmarks of her work: tenderness and an almost folkloric shimmer beneath the grit of everyday life. Set against winter streets and fractured homes, the book asks what happens when children must find light where adults have let darkness in.
Here, Ingvild shares the books and music that shaped Brightly Shining: from the childhood classic read that inspired her heroine’s name, to the Nordic masterpieces she returns to every year, and the songs that held her through the writing of both the novel and this year’s film adaptation. Together, they reveal the constellation of stories, voices and melodies behind her spellbinding work.
Three Books That Inspired Brightly Shining
Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren (translated by Patricia Crampton)
The books I read as a child still influence me, and what made the deepest impact was Astrid Lindgren’s books. Lindgren’s Ronja is the original – my girl Ronja is named after her. Lindgren’s Ronja lives with a tribe of robbers in the woods, and her father is the chief. Ronja hates what her father does for a living, so she runs into the woods, lives in a cave, and the father disowns her, saying that Ronja is no longer his daughter. Then, after a long winter, he sits crying on a stone outside the cave. Ronja runs to him and asks if she’s still his daughter after all. I still can’t read his response without crying. And maybe Brightly Shining is a book about what might happen if parents aren’t able to follow their kids into the woods.
Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell
A short, shining book about three siblings trying to find their father in the Missouri winter. The oldest sister, Ree, leads them out in the snow, and this girl is one of my favorite fictional characters. Ree’s big-sister attitude is perfectly rendered, and she was an inspiration for both Melissa in Brightly Shining and Rebekka in Winter Stories, as well as for the main character in the book I’m writing now. So, Woodrell: I owe you one! Or actually, three.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Road is a story about a boy and his father wandering a post-apocalyptic world, talking. Nobody writes dialogue like McCarthy. When I wrote Brightly Shining, I didn’t want it to be pure social realism, but kind of a fairy tale as well, and to me The Road is the bright shining star in that genre: it feels like a parable or myth, but also utterly realistic. Like the can of Coca-Cola the father gives his son in the middle of a doomed world – you’ll never forget that can.
Ingvild’s Three Favourite Nordic Reads
My all-time high Nordic books, and great seasonal reading as well – full of snow and darkness in winter, and eternal daylight in summer...
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (translated by Thomas Teal)
The child Sophia and her grandmother spend every summer on a Finnish island, and Janson captures how the girl starts her life as the grandmother approaches the end of hers. But they still have a lot in common, and the dialogues between them are so profound and funny and realistic, I’m in awe. For Winter Stories, I actually stole a few things from this one. I’ve read The Summer Book every summer for 15 years, and my plan is to keep reading it each summer until I check out.
Natten (The Night) by Sara Gordan
This is a short but huge tale about a mother and her teenage runaway daughter, who is sick and needs help. But describing the storyline doesn’t do this book any justice. As always: the mastery lies not in what happens, but in how it’s written – and this one is written perfectly. I don’t even understand why it’s so moving and captivating, but I recommend it to everyone. So, publishers of the world: it’s time to put on your trainers and run to buy the rights! Because this one isn’t yet translated to English.
Boys by Anna Ringberg
Oh, the snow in this book is the most threatening snow, because what do you do when your dog (called Boys) disappears into the winter? The dog is a whippet, thin and fragile, and you yourself have a drinking problem and live out in the Swedish woods. Boys has the suspense of a thriller, but the style is as literary as anything. Still not out in English, but dear publishers: you already have your trainers on, don’t you?
Ingvild’s Three Rising Norwegian Writers To Watch Out For
Maybe you’ve already read the big Norwegian authors Karl Ove Knausgård and Knut Hamsun? Here are three Norwegian rising stars you should read as well!
And By The Way, My Name Is Leah by Elida Karo
An incredibly funny first novel about bad sex and... depression – how is that even possible? The story is about a young girl, Leah, who grows up in Oslo. Leah tries to find love wherever she can, on playgrounds, in grocery stores, in bars. And this is hilarious, sad and also utterly moving, because from time to time, Leah finds what she’s searching for. I read it in one sitting.
Divna’s Book by Karoline Mirković
This is Divna’s story, growing up in Oslo in the ’80s with a Norwegian mother and a Yugoslavian father. Divna is just a child, she spends her summers in the Yugoslavian mountains and the rest of the year in Oslo, until the Yugoslav Wars break out, and everybody starts asking her what she is. Then she realises her family are Serbs, and the way people look at her has changed. Mirković lets us see it all so clearly: Divna’s childhood mountains and her apartment building in Oslo, the poppies and the popcorn, the dancing dresses and the war uniforms. I really couldn’t believe this was Mirković’s first book – the atmosphere and the psychology of the characters seem to be written by a pro.
Furthermore, I Believe Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Kyrre Andreassen
When I read books I really like, I write down sentences from them in a notebook reserved for that purpose. But when reading Furthermore, I Believe Carthage Must Be Destroyed I had to give up on that – I realised I was rewriting the whole book in my notebook. Kyrre Andreassen has written critically acclaimed and bestselling Norwegian books for decades, but I think the world hasn’t discovered him yet. Furthermore, I Believe Carthage Must Be Destroyed is a book about an electrician and his crumbling marriage, and that might not seem funny – but it’s one of the funniest and wisest books I’ve ever read.
Ingvild’s Writing Playlist For Brightly Shining
These are the songs I listened to both while writing the book and the script for the [2025] film. Some of the lyrics are in Norwegian and Swedish, but hopefully the music’s like Esperanto. The Norwegian artist Emilie Nicolas made the song Brightly Shining for the film, and she captures the essence of the story in four minutes. (Actually, in one sentence – guess which one?) The rest of the songs are my favorite ones about magic, fathers and imagination...
