Vaim Hotel

The Guest arrives at the empty Vaim Hotel, owned by the commanding and blunt Brita. She seems to recognise him, though he has no memory of her. He checks in with his two suitcases and leather shoulder bag; he hasn't yet decided how long to stay and can't remember exactly what he's brought with him.

The next day The Guest explores Vaim, meeting a shopkeeper and a sailor. He dines at the local restaurant, also owned by Brita, and begins to realise his possessions are going missing. Over the course of his stay his belongings, and sense of self, are repeatedly displaced, until eventually he finds himself bound to the town and unable to escape, caught in a loop of debt and servitude to Brita.

The second instalment in Jon Fosse's Vaim Trilogy is a discomfiting and propulsive mystery, marking a new departure from the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature-laureate.