Lasrs Mytting knows trees. He has written a book on trees. Literally. And now he has written a book about trees. A very specific set of very valuable trees from the site of one of the deadliest battles of the past.
Like most traumatic events, the Battle of Somme continues to echo into the present of the book’s characters as evidenced by its protagonist, a twenty-three-year-old Edvard, who upon the death of his grandfather (the only family he had) sets off to uncover the secrets of his past.
Edvard’s journey takes him across seas and time as he traces the fates of his parents and his great-uncle, it’s quite a lot for a young man who had never been anywhere but his grandfather’s humble potato farm in Norway, but wars are global, and their effect is felt accordingly.
The novel takes a bit to get going, starting off as a slow, measured drama and ramping up into something like a suspense mystery. There’s a love story, too. A love triangle, really, as Edvard meets a young woman following up on some of the same secrets that his past hides.
In the end, it’s all about wood. But hey, at least nothing else about the book is wooden, neither its characterizations, not the plot, not the players. It’s only the trees, the silent witnesses to all mankind’s atrocities, the wooden sentinels of the past.
Overall, a rather enjoyable novel. I’m a fan of reading international and historical fiction, and this book checked both of those boxes, in addition to being an engaging, literary read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

The Sixteen Trees of the Somme is a complex tale of a young man, Edvard, gradually coming to grips with his family’s past and how it has created his present. Edvard has gaps in his early life stemming from the time his parents, Walter and Nicole, died in France. He has been told that he was with them on their trip but found a long distance away, four days after their deaths. He was three and his memories of those days are gone. People have hinted that he will be told more but that has never happened.

He lives on a rural, mountainside farm, with his grandfather, Serre, raising potatoes and sheep, feeling out of place in his life. When his grandfather dies, he is free/compelled to learn more about himself and the past.

This novel is set in rural Norway, the Shetland Islands and France. The settings become characters themselves, helping to define people and their actions over the course of a century. There are elements of family history, historical fiction back to a pivotal battle of World War I, mystery, and developmental or psychological novel. I do recommend this for those who like introspective novels with complex plots.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Wow! I’m still living in the world of Lars Mytting’s The Sixteen Trees of the Somme, one of the best mysteries I’ve read.

From early childhood, Edvard Hirifjell has been raised by his bestefar—his grandfather—on a potato farm in rural Norway near the village of Saksum, not far from Lillehammer. Raised as a potato farmer, Edvard grows to young adulthood, knowing little about his parents’ death in France and the days in which he was missing after their death.

Not until Svarre, his grandfather, dies does Edvard begin learning about his past, first from an elderly priest, who tells him that there is no need to buy a coffin because one had been shipped from the Shetland Islands years earlier and stored at a local funeral home, awaiting Sverre’s death. Not even Sverre knew of the coffin’s existence.

Only one person could have crafted such a beautiful coffin—Sverre’s estranged brother Einar, believed to have died many years before the coffin appeared. As fragments slowly begin falling into place, Edvard realizes Einar may have had something to do with his parents’ death. Furthermore, he begins to realize he knows nothing about his parents.

Edvard’s search takes him from Norway to remote parts of the Shetland Islands and eventually to France in search of answers to an ever-expanding mystery—search for answers to his parents’ deaths, but also a search for himself and for answers to deep questions about life.

Lars Mytting has written a complex, multigenerational saga spanning roughly a century and focusing on not only the Hirifjells, but also the Winterfinches of Edinburgh and the Daireaux of Authuille, France. The Sixteen Years of the Somme is an intriguing mystery, but it is so much more.

Paul Russell Garrett deserves a special mention for this vivid and beautiful translation into English. Although I cannot read the originally Norwegian, I can infer that Garrett worked from the best of materials, much like Einar worked from the most beautiful woods.

My thanks to Abrams/Overlook Press for an advance reader copy. This is one of the rare novels I will read again. 4.5 rounded up to 5

Really enjoyed this well written book in translation.I found it really involving from the first pages with characters that came alive.

I'm always pleased to read literature in translation and this was no exception. While it might be slow in spots, its ultimately an interesting family saga. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Edvard's desperate quest to unlock the family's tragic secrets takes him on a long journey - from Norway to the Shetlands, and to the battlefields of France - to the discovery of a very unusual inheritance. "

Enjoyable read, though drawn-out and rambly in places. Edvard never sat still and I think his need to discover the truth - HIS truth - kept the story going and moving forward.

3.75☆

This novel was a bit of a slog for me. The plot hinges on family secrets that needn't have been secrets, wartime loyalties and betrayals, and the narrator's lack of self. In fact, this book has one of the most unlikeable narrators I've ever encountered. He's even worse that Holden Caulfield. He's a narcissistic, callous asshole. Other characters are also all pretty awful people as well, and none for any reason that makes sense for the plot. The pace drags and really all I wanted to do was push the protagonist into the sea.

Poetic, written beautifully and poignantly, but also jarringly. I recognize the creativity and skill that went into this book and I appreciated reading about a unique setting, but it didn't capture my attention. The dying trout in the first chapter might have something to do with that.... :/