One Last Time by Helga Flatland
Anne’s life is rushing to an unexpected and untimely end. But her diagnosis of terminal cancer isn’t just a shock for her – and for her daughter Sigrid and granddaughter Mia – it shines a spotlight onto their fractured and uncomfortable relationships.
A spur-of-the moment trip to France acts as a catalyst for the three generations of women to reveal harboured secrets, long-held frustrations and suppressed desires – and to learn humbling and heartwarming lessons about how life should be lived when death is so close.
With all of Helga Flatland’s trademark insight, sharp yet warm wit and deep empathy, One Last Time examines the great dramas that can be found in ordinary lives, asks the questions that matter to us all – and ultimately celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. An enchantingly beautiful novel that urges us to treasure what we have and rethink how we live our lives, from one of Norway’s most distinguished literary novelists.
About the author.
Helga Flatland is already one of Norway’s most awarded and widely read authors. Born in Telemark, Norway, in 1984, she made her literary debut in 2010 with the novel Stay If You Can, Leave If You Must, for which she was awarded the Tarjei Vesaas’ First Book Prize. She has written four novels and a children’s book and has won several other literary awards.
Her fifth novel, A Modern Family (her first English translation), was published to wide acclaim in Norway in August 2017, and was a number-one bestseller. The rights have subsequently been sold across Europe and the novel has sold more than 100,000 copies. One Last Time was published in Norway in 2020, where it topped the bestseller lists, and was shortlisted for the Norwegian Booksellers Award.
Review
‘One Last Time’ was like taking a sucker punch to the heart. It is beautiful, evocative, emotional, heart-wrenching and tackles one of the issues which makes humanity in my eyes. This was a hard read for me. Not because I didn't enjoy the book because it was beautiful, but it brought up a lot of repressed memories of when I cared for my mum during her terminal illness. Helga hits the nail on the head with the details, the guilt, the fear, and sometimes relief. This is a truly elegant book.
Anne has found out she has bowel cancer and is suddenly faced with having to acknowledge that she might not have a future. Her husband is in a care home after suffering numerous strokes and her children Sigrid and Magnus no longer live in the area. When she lets them know of the diagnosis they rally round but it puts an intense spotlight on their relationships, which especially between mother and daughter are highly fractured.
This book spoke to me. There were times I was sobbing, laughing and reminiscing about my own experiences of this. It feels as if it has looked into my soul and expressed what I was feeling during this period of my life. Yes, the circumstances are different but essentially the feelings are the same. The fear when you first are told, the rushing around to show you care, needing to escape the situation, the slow acceptance of the fact that your mother is going to die and then the event itself. The scene that really hit me hard was when the nurse told Sigrid that her mother had been calling for her. My mum on her last day didn't call my name but my aunts, even though I was her carer from the age of five. That devastation has stayed with me and that was one of the points I sobbed my heart out. I think a lot of readers will find this book very personal and emotional but boy is it worth the read. Helga must have gone through this experience as everything about it felt real, raw and humane.
It's the small details in this book that make it so real. It's the buying of new clothes, wanting to go on a trip to make memories, the fake we must all try to be happy, the need to escape just for a little bit from your life. All these thread together to make a rich tapestry of one of the hardest times in a person’s life. Helga didn't just get the emotions of Anne correct but those of her family as well.
This is a truly stunning book. One I will remember for eternity.
