Waist Deep (Kun Til Navlen)

Translated into English by Sherilyn Hellberg

A luscious summer novel about friends, lovers, and friends' lovers

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 plan to get married at the end of the week, striking a blow to Sylvia’s simmering, decades-long crush on Esben – a crush that her monogamous girlfriend Charlie would definitely not approve of.

Whilst the group swim, sunbathe, cook and flirt their way to midsummer night, desire and anxiety swirl in equal measure. As the wedding day approaches, will they achieve their arcadian dreams or will everything come tumbling down?

Linea Maja Ernst’s debut novel, Waist Deep is a modern midsummer night’s dream about friends, lovers and friends’ lovers; about sex, hope and love; and about dreaming that everything could be different.

“Waist Deep might be this literary year’s first full fledged miracle”

- Berlingske

“Shamelessly entertaining”

- Kristeligt Dagblad

“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

“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

“A perfume dream of a debut about the wild force of friendship”

- Politiken

“Linea Maja Ernst writing about opulent dinner parties and the heady magnetism of midsummer forests is sensory and atmospheric”

- Soundvenue

“Clever, wry, and incredibly sexy”

- Susannah Dickey

“Delicious, and provocative”

- Esther Freud

“Sensuous and vivid... A book to devour”

- Laura Kay

“Trembles and flashes with hot emotion, confusion and pangs of longing”

- Amy Key

“Waist Deep is an enjoyable pageturner, a sympathetic and perceptive examination of the importance of moving on and letting go…evocative (…) Ernst, a staff writer for the Danish weekly newspaper Weekendavisen, offers a nuanced portrait of thirtysomething millennials”

- The Observer

“The novel simmers with sexual dissatisfaction and the anguish of lives unlived. The luscious descriptions of their lakeside idyll are so deliciously vivid you almost want to bury your nose in the pages and take a whiff. A beautiful and sensuous book that stayed with me long after I read it”

- Daily Mail

“The quintessential millennial novel we’ve been waiting for”

- Vogue

“Trying to capture the fleeting magic of midsummer in novel form, but also writing it as a homage to Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse requires courage bordering on arrogance but Linea Maja Ernst makes it work. Yes, it actually works. And that's because of the novel's breathtakingly beautiful imagery ... I'm prepared to name Waist Deep a potential future summer classic.”

- Dagens Nyheter (Sweden)

‘‘Waist Deep is entertaining and unputdownable, but above all it is an incredibly accurate depiction of the millennial generation, which I myself belong to. It strikes me that I've met all these people - or at least some of them. Maybe I'm even one of them myself? The sharp generational portrayal is the novel's great asset.”

- Borås Tidning (Sweden)

“Linea Maja Ernst is aware of the satire in every portrait, and the characters seem on the surface to surpass the ideals that characterise the petty-bourgeois and over-aestheticised middle-class existence ... The translator Felicia Stenroth really manages to convey the irony of these symbolic projects.”

- Göteborgs-Posten (Sweden)

“Linea Maja Ernst offers satire interspersed with tenderness for a generation of humanists who were told they could do whatever they wanted, but who still got caught in the net of the small nuclear family life.”

- National Swedish Radio

“First and foremost, it's a magical, almost eerily accurate, portrait of a generation that could be described as “creative, politically correct millennials” This is the kind of book that evokes both delight and shame while reading: As someone the same age as the author, I feel deeply seen, yet frequently cringe with embarrassment. By writing painfully spot-on archetypes within the group, Ernst offers an inspired critique of an entire generation. She has crafted a sharp, vividly descriptive, and impressively nuanced language in these brief 200 pages. Waist Deep is sexy, funny, and biting all at once—a truly brilliant summer read"

- VG

“A sizzling summer read (…) Debut author Ernst writes at times irresistibly about friendship, infatuation, and broken dreams. Ernst’s sex scenes will make readers blush. Waist Deep is, all in all, a sexy book. The forest is light green, steamy, and magical, the air thick with desire and longing.The author delivers sharp jabs beneath the surface of summer idyll. One moment you think, “Ha, I know that person!” The next: “Ouch.” You just have to laugh. Out loud”.

– NRK radio

“… A revealing and quite melancholic portrait of a group of millennials.
The author knows her people, her millennials, and her friends in the highly bourgeois cultural life of Copenhagen. In that sense, the book is enjoyable and revealing. And I like Linea Maja Ernst's shifting perspective on the action. She moves into the mind of each individual and shares their opinions, thoughts, and viewpoints. There are seven people in the group, and each one takes turns being the main character. Elegantly done”.

- Nettavisen