Feelgood
by CAPPELEN DAMM
Stories filled with kindness, optimism and heart
THE LONELY HEARTS BAR
Cocktails and love! Christmas magic is served here! Lisa, facing an unappealing proposal and career setback, inherits an old Oslo apartment building, including the charming “Lonely Hearts Bar.” Joining its eccentric community, she fights to save it from closure amidst a gruff chef and a relentless businessman. Old secrets, new love, and risky choices unfold daily in December, with each chapter featuring a cocktail recipe. This festive tale offers warmth, unexpected connections, and the perfect drink for every occasion. This heartwarming Christmas novel is a captivating story of friendship, love, and life’s defining choices, with a signature cocktail for every day – a festive treat promising to warm hearts and delight the senses.
KJERSTI HERLAND JOHNSEN (b. 1971), a publishing veteran, has captivated readers with her beloved feelgood Christmas novels. She partners with ARNT STEFFENSEN (b. 1968), a celebrated professional chef and acclaimed author known for his spirits and food culture expertise. Together, this dynamic duo presents their heartwarming Christmas novel, The Bar of Lonely Hearts captivating tale of friendship, love, and defining choices, with a signature cocktail for every day.
CHRISTMAS AT GLITTER PEAK LODGE
Mountain climber Ingrid has survived a near-death accident, and has now moved back home to take over the management of the family-run Glitter Peak Lodge. As Christmas guests begin to arrive, it seems someone is trying to sabotage the hotel. Then Ingrid’s ex-boyfriend shows up, bringing back the trauma of the accident and getting in the way of Ingrid’s new flame, her childhood sweetheart, the kind, downto-earth sheep farmer Tor. Will the hotel survive the busy Christmas season, and will Ingrid get her life back on track?
«A breath of lovely mountain air of a book: so delightful and charming!» jenny colgan
The ultimate feelgood Christmas read, with romance, family, traditions and an old mystery, all set in a picturesque Norwegian winter in the mountains.
SUMMER AT GLITTER PEAK LODGE
Ingrid has finally landed in her life: her relationship with Tor is wonderful, the hotel is going well, and she’s rediscovered her love for mountain climbing. She’s also hosting the grand wedding of her best friend Vegard at Glitter Peak Lodge this summer. But a wedding is without complications, especially when uninvited guests decide to make an appearance…
Return to Glitter Peak Lodge this summer, to feel the soft mountain breeze and hear the ringing of sheep’s bells in the distance. And to experience the wedding of the year, and the drama that ensues.
CHRISTMAS LETTER
Linda, a single mother, works hard to ensure that her son Brage has a safer and better childhood than she herself had. When December comes around, Linda plans everything carefully, so that Brage will have the perfect Christmas full of familiar rituals and traditions. But then, out of the blue, Brage’s somewhat absent father wants to take Brage on a cruise all of December, leaving Linda all alone. Around the same time, mysterious letters start to appear in Linda’s mailbox.
Advent goes nothing as Linda has planned for, but Christmas may still turn our perfect.
THE XXX-MAS CALENDAR
Erotic feel-good comedy! The perfect stocking stuffer!
Christmas approaches, but for publisher Tor and teacher June, life is anything but perfect. Overwhelmed by children, sex life has become a distant memory. After jarring encounters, the once-enamored couple realizes something drastic is needed. A simple typo leads to ‘Project xxx-mas Calendar’: sex every single day?! It could be a disaster, or their last hope to rekindle their relationship. On top of a colorful cast of characters and satirizing everything from the publishing industry, toddlerhood, and the grass that may or may not be greener on the other side, the question looms: Will Tor and June last until Christmas?
JACK HARDNES (b. 1983) has previously almost published a poetry collection. For several years, he worked as a publishing editor, but is now a full-time author, traveling and taking black-and-white photographs.
LEA SOMMERO (b. 1983) works as an elementary school teacher and has run a surf hotel in Mexico. This is her first book.
LAST CHRISTMAS
Christmas is drawing near, but the idyll and calm Kirsti longs for during the holiday season seems completely out of reach this year. This autumn the complications in Kirsti’s life is piling higher than gifts under the tree. Her teenage daughter Iben is having mood swings, Kirsti’s mother and sister has decided to spend Christmas on the Canary Islands without them, and her new boyfriend Tobias is spending all his time as a climate activist. Then, Kirsti gets a phone from her doctor. Breast cancer. Suddenly, she must face the possibility of Iben having to grow up without her. Which means she also has to face the fact that Iben has a father, who doesn’t know about his daughter. As Kirsti grapples with everything, her neighbourhood rallies around her while Tobias practically evaporates from her life, blaming his absence on a phobia of diseases.
Is this Kirsti’s last Christmas? Or can a Christmas miracle happen?
THE CHRISTMAS CALENDAR
During breakfast on a totally ordinary Tuesday, Fie’s husband declared that he wants a divorce. He is a dentist, and for years Fie has been his faithful assistant – without pay. Fie is banished from her home, to an impractical and uncharming attic apartment on the other side of the city. Dazed and in despair after losing everything, Fie tries to soften the blow with sedatives. Her adult son, embarrassed about his mother’s breakdown, refuses her calls. As Christmas approaches, Fie’s sister Sara demanding that she gets a grip. To help her along the way, Sara makes a Christmas Calendar with tasks for Fie to do. Like getting a job, decorating her apartment, getting a pet. Can the calendar get Fie’s life back on track, and into the Christmas spirits?
A charming Christmas story by Norway’s queen of feelgood!
GOOSEBERRY SISTERS
My’s seemingly perfect life has just imploded. Her husband slept with the nanny, and now she’s left both him and her home. She also seems to have left behind her self-confidence. With her daughter Amanda, My has moved back in with her mother. It’s nothing like the rich, luxurious life she’s used to, instead it’s messy and chaotic, and My has to deal with gossipers, the pony-tail-man her mother is trying to help, and the child protection services. But she also learns the importance of having a sister, and how to stand up straight when everything around her falls to pieces.
SIRI ØSTLI is married with five daughters, and has a university degree in French, Russian and Psychology. She debuted with Across Greenland in High Heels in 2009, and was named Norway’s Queen of feelgood by the media. Since then she has received excellent reviews a number of feelgood novels. Østli has been translated into several languages, including German and Italian.
WHERE WHITE LILIES GROW
After a devastating break-up, Linnea escapes Oslo. She flies north to stay at her best friend’s late great-aunt Marie’s big house, on a remote, windswept island. One day, she stumbles upon a small clock that leads her to discover the dramatic story of Marie’s past, and why Marie lived all by herself for so many years.
As Linnea’s wounds slowly heal, with the help of her sweet neighbours and the handsome electrician Karsten, Marie’s story unravels and reveals her tragic love affair with a Yugoslavian prisoner during the Second World War.
Where White Lilies Grow is a beautiful and breath-taking, and delves into one of the darkest and most brutal chapters of Norwegian wary history, the Blood Road.
JORID MATHIASSEN (b. 1965) grew up on the coast in Northern Norway, and now lives in Oslo. She has a major in Nordic language and literature from the University of Oslo, and is a senior acquiring editor at Bonnier Norsk Forlag. She made her author debut in 2022 with Where the White Lilies Grow, which has been translated into Danish and German.
BLUE AS THE ANOMONE
Strong female destinies and an emotional journey across generations, from the war to present day.
On a warm day at the end of August the TV-photographer Birthe Johanessen is on her way to Hjartøy, looking for a grandma she until recently didn’t know existed. To Erle Christensen, Birthe’s visit means that events she’s spent a whole life keeping secret come to light. At the same time, she’s challenged to try to find out what happened before she came as a child refugee from Latvia right after the Second World War. Does she still have relatives in her hometown of Riga?
Blue as the Anemone is a standalone follow-up to Jorid Mathiassen’s Where White Lilies Grow, but is set to the same Northern Norwegian island Hjartøy and readers will get a reunion with characters from the first book.
THE GOLDEN CHILD
Is this really where we are going to live?
That’s Hedda’s first thought as she arrives at the deteriorating brown house in the God-forsaken town of Grodal. Her father is still in the East of Norway. Hedda, fifteen years old, has moved ahead with her mother and little sister Diddi. When she doesn’t get along with the girls in her class, she gets to know the boys instead, and they bring her along into a hitherto unknown and slightly dangerous world. But when is her father actually moving in? And how is she supposed to watch her little sister, who really gets to learn how cruel children can be…
25 years later Hedda is still trying to get to grips with what happened the summer she was fifteen …
The Golden Child is a touching and realistic coming-of-age novel from the countryside of West Norway, which encompasses more than just picturesque idyll.
AFTER US
The year is 1967. After an exciting – and cataclysmic – year at folk high school, four girls go their own ways. They were going to be friends for life.
Forty years later, Ingrid is alone after her husband Arvid suddenly passes away. Even though many years have passed, she summons up the courage to call one of her old friends. Both love and conflict soon come back to life. Perhaps it isn’t too late for them after all.
After us is a tender and warm novel about friendship, love, and the meaning of life.
GUNN MARIT NISJA (b. 1978) debuted in 2011 with the novel Naked in Hijab, which was nominated for the Booksellers’ Prize and sold over 20,000 copies. Since then she’s written several popular novels, which also do really well on audio streaming platforms.
Sommersholm is a feelgood series set to the Norwegian estates in the 1860s, perfect for fans of Bridgerton.
THE GIRL IN THE SNOW
Sommersholm is a venerable manor that has belonged to the Adler family for generations. Two young women with very different lives live there: the landowner’s daughter, Rose, and Alise, a maid. The manor also hides a dark, family secret.
As the story begins, the heir of Sommersholm, Birkthorn, returns home after three years abroad. When he left, Alise was a young girl, but she has not forgotten the landowner’s son who saved her life on a freezing cold winter night many years ago.
ANN-CHRISTIN GJERSØE (b. 1975) runs a 350-year-old farm with her husband. She is an experienced author who has written books for decades. Sommersholm is her latest series.
THE KAMELIA BOX BEFORE THE MAGNOLIA BLOOMS WHERE THE LARKS SING THE LILY IN THE FIELD THE TIME OF THE ROSES
– FOLLOW THE WIND –
The series Follow the Wind is a captivating series set to Rome, full of heart, excitement, passion and love. It crosses multiple timelines, where hidden motives and seedy affairs create secrets that won’t stay secret forever.
THE ORANGE TREES PARK
Spring 2015: Agnes travels from Norway to Rome to find her friend Alexandra, who’s been reported missing by her suddenly ill husband. What’s happened to Alexandra—has something befallen her, or has she gone into hiding? In Rome, Agnes accidentally runs into an old flame, and her feelings for him rushes back. But how accidental is it, really, that he is in Rome now?
The further into the mystery Agnes digs, the more confused she becomes. Who is Alexandra? Is her husband really ill? Soon, Agnes finds herself entangled into a cat-and-mouse game revolving around an art scam. She is given lies disguised as the truth, until she no longer can tell friend from fiend.
Summer 1953: In one of the nicer areas of Rome, young, upper-class Francesca meets a man in a red sports car. The man is the famous American photographer Chris Henley, who’s specialised in La Dolce Vita. Francesca falls heads over heels, but her parents are not thrilled by the match, convinced that Chris Henley is a gold digger.
WISTERIA
Because of the deal with Alexandra, Agnes can stay in Alexandra’s apartment by the Orange Trees Garden for free. Springtime is perfect for wandering the many streets of Rome — and for spending time in front of the easel.
Agnes gets to know Gabriele, a handsome and kind Roman. He is quick to offer his help and gives her lots of attention, but Agnes is hesitant to let him all the way into her heart. She hasn’t forgotten Stefan, and she doesn’t know Gabriele’s motives.
But another man frequently seeks Agnes out, and his motives she both knows and fears ...
ALEXANDRA
Rome, June 2014: During a fashion show where Alexandra is showing her own work, something happens that changes everything. An older man reaches out to her – and what he has to say shakes her to the core. If what he claims is true, Alexandra must see her entire life in a new light. And, if she chooses to trust him, he can offer her priceless help in the final settlement with her husband, Wilhelm.
MERETE LIEN (b. 1952) is from Bergen, and is a teacher with a Master in history. Her first novel came out in 1996, and has since then had a long and prolific writing career. She is best known for the popular series The Rose Garden, which has also been published in Poland.
– PROMISES IN SAND –
Promises in sand is a gripping drama series, set to the idyllic southern Norway in the early 1800s. The period marks a historic turning point – with elegant dresses and romantic promises – where ships sailed the Seven Seas, and the consequences of the Napoleon wars were felt by rich and poor alike.
THE FAMILY SECRET
Amalie grows up poor, but she appreciates the little she has. She sneaks food from her family’s limited food stock to feed starving children. Her father is an injured seaman struggling to work, while her mother is secretly scheming to marry Amalie off to a rich man.
Amalie works as a clerk at a posh hat-maker’s shop, which the town’s fine ladies and gentlemen frequently visit. One day, a beautiful comb disappears, and Amalie is blamed. She saw who took it, and when she confronts the woman, a Mr. Wickfall swoops in in defense of the woman. Amalie an Mr. Wickfall end up in a hefty fight. As their roads continue to cross, Amalie quickly understands that he has the power to ruin her future – and no scruples in doing just that.
WHEN THE WIND RISES
In 1807, a storm is brewing in the Danish-Norwegian kingdom. But far from the centre of action, in the charming coastal town of Christiansand, life goes on as normal. An evening a stately carriage with four magnificent horses rolls through the town. Inside sits a distraught young woman. Her whole life is based on a lie. Amalie Gren is now taken to her new guardian, the powerful Mr. Gyllenmark. He will say nothing about her past, but demands her absolute obedience when he marries her off.
Among the town’s well-kept bachelors, Amalie meets again the handsome, but very condescending, Mr. Wickfall. The better option, surely, is the charismatic Captain Sjaaland, who likes her for who she is? But how well does she really know either them? It soon turns out that several of Amalie’s new acquaintances have a hidden agenda - and that cynical power plays take place behind closed doors ...
WINTER HEARTS
Christmas is approaching, and snow blankets the little coastal town of Christiansand. The holiday calm spreads through the streets, but not to Miss Amalie Gren. She was completely caught off guard by the proposal from Captain Sjaaland, but before she was able to give him her answer, the powerful Mrs. Gyllenmaark accepted him on her behalf! The Captain is certainly handsome and charming, but Amalie wants to follow her heart – and she is full of doubt.
In the serving girl Marte’s heart, however, there is no doubt. She knows who she loves, but she cannot have him.
CONCEALMENT
While Napoleon and his army march on the European continent, it is blessedly peaceful in Christiansand in the spring of 1807. The harsh grip of winter is slowly giving way, and spring thaws the town. Amalie Gren knows both the town’s drafty living rooms and its pompous ballrooms, but dearest to her is the small skipper’s room where she grew up. When she finally returns, the long-awaited reunion with her mother is shattered by a shocking revelation from Mrs. Gyllenmark. Her mother has been carrying a secret so heartbreaking and scandalous that Amalie cannot comprehend that it is true.
ELISABETH HAMMER (b. 1970) wrote her way into the hearts of many a reader with the series Maria from Svaneberg in 2011. Hammer is an extremely prolific author, and has written multiple romance series and has sold hundreds of thousands of books.
Feel-good crime filled with books, baked goods, and brutal secrets and murder mysteries!
MURDER IN THE BOOK SHOP
When Minna Gabler is found dead in her alternative bookshop, it’s ruled an accident, but nieces Angel and Isa-Linn, who inherit the shop and a mysterious heirloom, suspect foul play. Angel moves to charming a Norwegian town with her wise cat, Luna, only to discover the bookshop needs more than just a makeover; it also holds an unsolved mystery. She uncovers secret documents and old love stories, meeting the town’s quirky residents. With the help of bubbly neighbor Camilla and irresistible journalist Adam, Angel searches for answers: who killed Minna, and what secrets lie within the old bookshop’s pages?
MURDER IN THE LIBRARY
Angel has been running her bookshop in Halden for six months, quickly finding a cherished haven in the local library, which proved invaluable during her first foray into detective work. When she joins the library’s reading circle to connect with her new community, tragedy strikes: the head librarian suddenly falls ill during a meeting and dies hours later. Knowing Angel’s past success in solving her Aunt Milla’s murder, the reading circle members appeal to her for help. Though she doesn’t consider herself a professional detective, Angel agrees to investigate, assembling her quirky but trusted crew: Luna the cat, confectioner Camilla, journalist Adam, and her sister Isa-Linn. This time, the stakes are higher; Angel not only seeks to uncover the killer but also finds herself needing to clear her own name.
MURDER AT THE WRITING CLASS
In January, a writing class at Angel’s bookstore takes a dark turn when instructor Fabian Svartskog mysteriously disappears. Angel, with her clever cat Luna and journalist boyfriend Adam, must find Fabian, dead or alive, investigating high-tech secrets and author ethics, in a world of love and betrayal. This feel-good crime novel offers a charming small-town murder mystery hidden behind the bookshelves.
Murder in the Writing Class to be published the spring of 2026.
GUNN HELENE ARSKY (b. 1968) is a qualified nutritional physiologist and has a Master of Science from the University of Oslo. She has published several books about health and nutrition and is the nutrition expert in Bedre Helse, a Norwegian health magazine. Her literary debut came in 2025 with Murder in the Book Shop, the first book in a series of cosy crimes set in idyllic Halden – where Arsky also lives.
