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In the early hours of April 7 1990, a devastating fire broke out aboard the MS Scandinavian Star, a passenger ferry operating between Oslo and Frederikshavn. Inadequate crew training combined with malfunctioning safety doors accelerated the propagation of the fire, while toxic hydrogen cyanide gas emitted from combusting materials caused the deaths of 159 individuals. At first, the disaster was blamed to a passenger—a lorry driver with a history of arson. Given that this individual too died in the fire and was unable to refute himself, the full truth regarding the disaster remained concealed for a long time. Only in 2020 that a comprehensive documentary disclosed the fire was probably set intentionally as part of an fraud scheme.

Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star Series: A Glimpse

Within the initial book of Asta Olivia Nordenhof's epic series, the preceding volume, an unidentified protagonist is riding on a bus through the Danish capital when she notices an older man on the sidewalk. As the vehicle drives away, she experiences an “eerie sense” that she is taking a part of him with her. Driven to retrace the journey in search of him, the narrator enters a setting that is both unfamiliar and deeply familiar. She introduces readers to Maggie and Kurt, whose relationship is strained by the pressures of their troubled pasts. In the concluding section of that volume, it is implied that the source of Kurt's disaffection may stem from a poor investment made on his account by a individual referred to as T.

The Devil Book: An Unconventional Approach

The Devil Book begins with an lengthy poetic passage in which the writer explains her struggle to write T's story. “In this volume, two,” she states, “we were meant / to follow him / from youth up until / the evening / when he sat anticipating for / the news that / the fire / on the Scandinavian Star / had successfully been / ignited.” Burdened by the task she has assigned herself and derailed by the pandemic, she approaches the story indirectly, as a type of parable. “I came to think / that I / can do / anything I want / so this / is my book / this is / for you / this is / an erotic thriller / about businessmen and / the dark force.”

A narrative gradually emerges of a female character who experiences lockdown in the UK capital with a near-unknown person and during those weeks tells to him what occurred to her a ten years earlier, when she accepted an proposal from a man who claimed to be the devil to fulfill all her desires, so long as she didn't question his intentions. As the elements of the dual narratives become more interwoven, we begin to suspect that they are one and the same—or at the very least that the identity of T is multiple, for there are devils all around.

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

Deals with the Devil: A Literary Exploration

Classic stories teach us that it is the dark figure who does bargains, not God, and that we enter into them at our peril. But what if the protagonist herself is the devil? A third storyline eventually emerges—the account of a girl whose childhood was marred by mistreatment and who was placed in a psychiatric hospital, under duress to comply with societal norms or endure more of the same. “[This entity] knows that in the scenario you've created for it, there are two results: submit or remain a beast.” A alternative path is ultimately unveiled through a series of poems to the night that are also a call to arms against the influences of wealth and power.

Connections and Interpretations: From Literature to Real Events

Many UK audience members of Nordenhof's series books will reflect immediately of the London tower fire, which, though unintentional in origin, shares parallels in that the ensuing disaster and fatalities can be linked at least partly to the dangerous trade-off of putting profit over people. In these first two volumes of what is projected to be a multi-volume sequence, the fire on board the ferry and the series of deceptive business deals that culminated in mass murder are a ominous background presence, revealing themselves only in fleeting flashes of information or implication yet projecting a deepening influence over everything that occurs. Some readers may question how far it is feasible to read this volume as a stand-alone work, when its aim and meaning are so intricately bound into a broader narrative whose ultimate shape, at present, is uncertain.

Innovative Prose: Ethics and Aesthetics Fused

Some individuals—and I include myself as among them—who will become enamored with Nordenhof's project purely as written art, as properly experimental writing whose ethical and creative purpose are so deeply entwined as to make them inextricable. “Write poems / for we need / that as well.” There is another fire here: an intense, attractive commitment to writing as a statement. I intend to persist to follow this literary journey, no matter where it leads.