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In the late night of the 7th of April 1990, a catastrophic fire broke out on board the MS Scandinavian Star, a passenger ferry operating between Frederikshavn and Oslo. Insufficient crew training combined with malfunctioning fire doors aided the spread of the fire, while toxic hydrogen cyanide gas emitted from burning materials caused the loss of 159 people. At first, the tragedy was attributed to a traveler—a truck driver with a record of arson. Given that this individual too died in the incident and was unable to defend the accusations, the complete truth regarding the disaster remained concealed for many years. It wasn't until 2020 that a comprehensive documentary revealed the blaze was probably started intentionally as part of an fraud scheme.

Nordenhof's Literary Sequence: An Overview

Within the initial book of Nordenhof's epic sequence, the preceding volume, an unnamed protagonist is riding on a bus through Copenhagen when she observes an older man on the street. As the bus moves away, she experiences an “uncanny feeling” that she is taking a piece of him with her. Compelled to retrace the route in pursuit of him, the character finds herself in a setting that is both unfamiliar and deeply familiar. She introduces us to Maggie and Kurt, whose relationship is tested by the pressures of their conflicted pasts. In the concluding section of that book, it is implied that the root of Kurt's disaffection may originate in a poor investment made on his account by a man known as T.

This New Volume: An Unconventional Approach

The Devil Book begins with an extended prose poem in which the writer explains her struggle to compose T's narrative. “In this second volume,” she states, “we were meant / to trace him / from youth up until / the night / when he sat anticipating for / the news that / the fire / on the Scandinavian Star / had effectively been / set.” Overwhelmed by the undertaking she has set herself and derailed by the pandemic, she tackles the tale obliquely, as a form of parable. “I came to think / that I / can do / whatever I want / so this / is my book / this is / for you / this is / an erotic thriller / about entrepreneurs and / the dark force.”

A narrative slowly unfolds of a female character who spends lockdown in the UK capital with a virtual stranger and during those weeks relates to him what occurred to her a decade before, when she agreed to an proposal from a man who professed to be the devil to grant all her wishes, so long as she didn't question his motives. As the elements of the two stories become more interwoven, we begin to suspect that they are one and the same—or at the very least that the nature of T is legion, for there are devils all around.

Another blaze is present: an ardent, magnetic commitment to literature as a political act

Deals with the Devil: A Literary Examination

Classic stories instruct us that it is the devil who makes bargains, not God, and that we enter into them at our risk. But suppose the narrator herself is the malevolent force? A third storyline comes finally to light—the account of a girl whose early years was scarred by mistreatment and who spent time in a psychiatric hospital, under pressure to comply with social expectations or suffer more of the same. “[The devil] knows that in the scenario you've set for it, there are a pair of results: surrender or remain a beast.” A alternative path is finally unveiled through a collection of poems to the night that are simultaneously a call to arms against the forces of wealth and power.

Parallels and Readings: From Fiction to Reality

Numerous UK readers of the author's series novels will reflect right away of the London tower fire, which, though unintentional in cause, shares similarities in that the resulting disaster and loss of life can be attributed at least partly to the devil's bargain of prioritizing financial gain over human lives. In these initial volumes of what is projected to be a seven-book sequence, the fire aboard the ship and the series of fraudulent transactions that ended in mass murder are a ominous background element, showing themselves only in fleeting glimpses of detail or implication yet casting a deepening shadow over all that transpires. Some readers may question how far it is feasible to interpret this volume as a stand-alone work, when its purpose and significance are so deeply bound into a larger narrative whose ultimate shape, at present, is uncertain.

Innovative Prose: Art and Morality Fused

There will be others—and I include myself as among them—who will become enamored with Nordenhof's endeavor purely as text, as properly experimental writing whose ethical and creative purpose are so deeply interlinked as to make them inextricable. “Compose verses / for we require / that as well.” There is another fire here: a passionate, magnetic commitment to writing as a political act. I intend to continue to pursue this series, no matter where it goes.