“The snow is falling heavily and she has already vanished from sight. He stands in the doorway contemplating her footprints, three steps down, across the street to the left and away. Snowflakes drift in. They hit his shirt and the shelves behind him, but he doesn’t budge. The air has a faint smell of moist soil even if it can’t be possible: the narrow, cobbled street is enveloped by the tarmac density of the old city centre. It has snowed all day and the snow reaches well beyond the lone curb discernible in the only driveway that has been cleared. …”
A short intense novel on ethics in art and reality: If we are all morally fallen do we still hold a choice as to the degree to which we wish to fall? Also today in our market- and competition ruled world? And what choice would we make in that exact moment, when it’s fully ours to make? Come is told through a publisher’s considerations on the eve of printing a thriller based on a true and gruesome story, which the real life protagonist claims to have serious reasons to want kept secret. Come concerns itself with writers and publishers, but the issues it raises naturally reach far beyond: Where begins and where ends our responsibility for one another?
…….
”What is so magnificent about Teller’s novel is that it pushes aside all established norms and legalities: ‘COME’ transforms current issues of conflict into high level literary energy. His formal academic speech is challenged by the muddy realities in which the publisher must act – and in which he must make a decision and bear the consequences. At an existential level ‘COME’ draws our attention to how heavy and complicated it can be to function in a world laden with conflicts where it is most often insufficient to respond to one call alone.” – Lasse Horne Kjældgaard, Politiken, Denmark
“I whizzed right through, but the afterthoughts have never left me.” – Jes Stein Pedersen, Efter Deadline, DR2
“What does art do to us? For us? Does it do anything? Janne Teller’s book circles around questions such as these, … and yet, it is as captivating as a thriller.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany
“A novel about choices, including the choice of saying no, but also about the arts and its responsibilities, and about artistic freedoms. The limits for freedom of expression are debated. Where are the limits? Are there none? Or are they to be found, where they interfere with the freedom of another human being?” – Nordjyske/Fyns Stiftstidende, Denmark
Published in, ia: Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Mexico, Colombia
