Brightly Shining

 

Brightly Shining / Ingvild Rishoi
trans. from the Norwegian by Caroline Waight
NY: Grove, 2024, c2021.
192 p.

This is another beautiful Christmas book, physically, with a gorgeous cover. But don't let it fool you; this isn't a book for happy Christmas vibes. It's a melancholy, dark read about two young sisters and their alcoholic father. 

Inspired by The Little Match Girl, you can guess that this won't be a cheery tale. Ronja is 10, and she's telling the tale from her viewpoint. Her older sister Melissa, 16, is her rock, and the person who holds their home together. Their mother is dead and their father is an alcoholic - he is great when he's dry, but that is so infrequent as to be another dream. 

Ronja is friends with her school's caretaker, who gives her a lead for a job for her dad, selling Christmas trees. He takes it and all is well, until he falls into drink again. Then Melissa begs, and takes over his tree-selling position to keep the family going. Ronja doesn't like being far from Melissa so starts hanging out at the tree lot after school. But the owner isn't too keen on that. 

In a happy Christmas tale, their father would quit drinking in a Christmas miracle and all would be glorious. But that doesn't happen here. Melissa and Ronja have to make their own decisions and take their own path. The ending is not entirely conclusive; many reviews online say that it's an open ending. I feel it is pretty dark if you take the inspiration into account, and am not sure what I think about the structure of the book if my interpretation is correct. It's a hard read, heartbreaking with moments of light and joy amidst the overall depressing story. I liked it but found it hard going, especially the ending.