Waist Deep
Linea Maja Ernst author Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Publishing:8th May '25
£14.99
This title is due to be published on 8th May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
‘Clever, wry, and incredibly sexy’ SUSANNAH DICKEY
Five friends from university; seven summer days in a cabin in rural Denmark. A chance to swim, sunbathe, flirt, read and mess around like in the old days.
At least that’s what Sylvia had hoped. But when her friends arrive with real jobs, kids and partners, Sylvia is left wondering what happened to the radical ways of living they embraced at university. Worse, Esben and Karen announce their wedding, striking a blow to Sylvia’s simmering, decades-long crush on Esben – a crush that her monogamous girlfriend Charlie would definitely not approve of.
Within the rest of the group, desire and anxiety swirl in equal measure. Quince finally feels at home in his body and is ready to rave, but Gry’s kids have bedtime routines that get in the way. And Gry has also brought her husband Adam, the poster child for a heterosexual masculinity Quince can’t decide if he wants to tear down or tie down.
An instant bestseller in Scandinavia and now translated into ten languages, Waist Deep is a modern midsummer night’s dream adding a sensuous, provocative flourish to the perennial question: does growing up have to mean giving up on your dreams?
‘Sensuous and vivid, simmering with sexual tension and with an undercurrent of deep longing... A book to devour' LAURA KAY
'Waist Deep trembles and flashes with hot emotion, confusion and pangs of longing. I loved its cast of characters' AMY KEY
‘Linea Maja Ernst writes about sexual desire so well that it turns her readers on’ Weekendavisen
Waist Deep is such an enjoyable read: clever, wry, and incredibly sexy. In Linea Maja Ernst's gorgeous prose, translated superbly by Sherilyn Hellberg, the clotty intersections of desire, ideology, and ennui are explored in the most vividly luxuriant surroundings. I was totally besotted with these characters, and desperate for a dip in a lake by the end. -- Susannah Dickey
Sensuous and vivid. Simmering with sexual tension and with an undercurrent of deep longing - for a different life, for each other - there is something here that every adult with a group of friends will recognise (even if they won't admit it). A book to devour and enjoy every minute of -- Laura Kay
Waist Deep trembles and flashes with hot emotion, confusion and pangs of longing. I loved its cast of characters and their reaching towards what their lives might be together, and alone -- Amy Key
I devoured it in a day and absolutely adored ... I loved spending time by the lake with these characters watching them fall in and out of love with each other -- Brydie Lee-Kennedy
A perfume dream of a debut about the wild force of friendship * Politiken *
Waist Deep might be this literary year’s first full fledged miracle * Berlingske *
Shamelessly entertaining * Kristeligt Dagblad *
A completely superb and playful contemporary novel … Its pages ooze life lived, the gallery of characters is razor-sharp, the dialogue is flawless and the spry cultural references tie it all neatly together into a drama worthy of Virginia Woolf * Euroman *
Linea Maja Ernst writes about sexual desire so well that it turns her readers on... at once silly and fragile, flirtatious and sensitive * Weekendavisen *
An intense, confrontational and in every sense interesting novel about the fragility and (for some) fluidity of identity * Information *
Linea Maja Ernst writing about opulent dinner parties and the heady magnetism of midsummer forests is sensory and atmospheric * Soundvenue *
ISBN: 9781787335646
Dimensions: 216mm x 135mm x 25mm
Weight: 400g
224 pages