**A bestseller and winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, now in
paperback from Graywolf Press for the first time **
We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at
the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I
was fifteen. It was 1948 and oneof the first days of July.
Trond's friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in
mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as
a joy ride on borrowed horses ends with Jon falling into a strange
trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day--an
incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both
boys.
Set in the easternmost region of Norway, Out Stealing Horses by Per
Petterson begins with an ending. Sixty-seven-year-old Trond has settled
into a rustic cabin in an isolated area to live the rest of his life
with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however,
forces him to reflect on that fateful summer.