They by Helle Helle review – a novel to make the reader slow down and take notice

Minimalist but never austere, this mother-daughter portrait from the Danish author finds its power in everyday detail The Danish author Helle Helle’s They, published in the UK in a pin-sharp translation by Martin Aitken, charts the subtle and shifting bond between a teenage daughter and an ailing mother in prose that is minimalist but never austere. It’s one of those novels where little is spoken but everything, by the end, gets said. The unnamed mother and 16-year-old daughter live above a h...

By Jude Cook