Stella Descending

Stella descends, over and over, in the course of this haunting novel. She falls from the womb, since her mother gives birth standing up; she falls for Martin, who delivers her new green sofa and refuses to leave; she falls ill and eventually recovers; but her biggest fall, the descent that suffuses her story, is a plunge to her death off a nine-story building. Memories and observations related by Stella's adolescent daughter, her curmudgeonly octogenarian friend, three old ladies who witness her final moments, and finally Stella herself combine in cryptic and beguiling ways to unravel the mystery: Playing a lover's game on that rooftop, did she fall out of her husband's arms, or was she pushed?

Born in 1966, Linn Ullmann is a graduate of New York University, where she studied English literature and began her graduate studies before returning to Oslo in 1990 to pursue a career in journalism. She had established herself as a prominent literary critic when her first novel, Before You Sleep, was published in 1998 and became a critically acclaimed best-seller throughout Europe. She writes a column for Norway's leading newspaper and lives in Oslo with her husband, son, two stepchildren, and a dog.