Cars and Animals

Helle Helle

Original title: Biler og dyr
Publisher: Samleren, Denmark , 2000
Genre: Short stories
Pages: 100 pages

Quite ordinary situations in everyday life quietly evolve in an increasingly disturbing – or, to put it bluntly – terrifying direction.
The difficulty of saying what you want to say is a reoccurring motif for the characters of this collection of short stories. Helle Helle writes dialogue with shivering certainty and can transform even the saddest emotion into a joke.

Foreign rights

Norwegian: Forlaget Oktober
Welsh: Llyfrau Melin Bapur

Everything about this book – including the title – is filled with delightful undertones … Her gift for language qualifies her for The
Danish Mother Tongue Award. At least.

Ekstra Bladet

Helle Helle

Photo by Mikkel Carl

Helle Helle (b. 1965) is a graduate of the Danish Academy of Creative Writing and the author of a number of novels as well as two collections of short fiction. She is one of Scandinavia’s most original writers, with a career spanning three decades, from her debut Example of Life (1993) to her most recent novel, Hafni Says, published to rave reviews in 2023. Her books have been translated into 24 languages.