Last Night in Nuuk

Book excerpt: Five friends attempt to find themselves in the nightlife of Greenland’s capital city in this “audacious and honest, sorrowful and triumphant” debut novel (NPR). In a collection of blurry nights and bleary mornings after, Greenlandic author Niviaq Korneliussen weaves together the coming of age of five young people in the city of Nuuk. Fia has recently sworn off men only to discover that the woman she wants is unavailable. Her brother Inuk is forced to escape Greenland after being implicated in a political scandal. Arnaq struggles to cope with her past as her hard-partying life spirals out of control. Meanwhile, Ivik and Sara must confront an important transition in their relationship. With vibrant imagery and daring prose, Korneliussen creates a Greenlandic literature unlike any we have known before—young, urbane, stream-of-consciousness, studded with textspeak and delirious with nightlife. This inventive debut “transports us to a cold homeland where the blood runs hot” (Guardian, UK).