Down to the Dogs
Helle Helle
Original title: Ned til hundene
Publisher: Samleren, Denmark, 2008
Genre: Novel
Pages: 197 pages
A woman with a trolley gets off the bus somewhere in Zealand. She has left her husband and is looking
for a place to cry.
She is picked up by John and Putte, two kind strangers, who let her sleep on their sofa. Over the course
of a week, she is absorbed in a world of pixies and lotto coupons, coffee and sponge cake and bike rides
in jumpsuits. And dogs to take care of. And then there is Putte’s brother, Ibber, with strong arms and the
smooth torso.
Life with John and Putte is both comfortable and strange and holds a story which, little by little, is
revealed to the woman with the trolley.
Foreign rights
Bulgarian: Roboread EOOD
Czech: Paseka
French: Le Serpent á Plumes
German: Dörlemann
Italian: Atmosphere Libri
Japanese: Chikuma – shobo
Dutch: Contact
Norwegian: Forlaget Oktober
Polish: Slovo/Obrz Terytoria
Swedish: Lindelöws Bokförlag
Awards
Nominated for The Nordic Coucil Literature Prize 2009.
Awarded the P.O. Enquist Award 2009.