(Reviewed by JD Jung)
Ferryman Nils Vik has spent decades carrying people across the fjord. Widowed for many years and the father of two grown daughters, he wants this crossing to be his last day on earth or sea. As he navigates, Nils reflects on a lifetime of journeys and the people he has met. Guided by the meticulous logbook he has kept, he encounters the ghosts of former passengers along the way. Accompanied by Luna, his long-deceased dog who speaks to him throughout the voyage, Nils finds comfort and companionship. Through these meetings, the story reveals not only these lives he affected, but the life and thoughts of Nils himself.
Nils’s life has been shaped by the rhythm of the fjord, and over the years he has learned an intimate interconnection between air, sea, and earth. His reflections reveal love and resentment, adaptation and acceptance, and a deep awareness of how time reshapes both people and places. Even on this final crossing, he notices details he had somehow missed before, suggesting that discovery does not end, even at the threshold of death. The fact that ferrying the fjord has been a family tradition only deepens the novel’s sense of continuity.
Despite its subject matter, this is not a depressing novel. On the contrary, it is warm, immersive, and quietly uplifting. The reader is drawn into the ebb and flow of the water and the cadence of Nils’s memories, feeling the weight and beauty of life. The prose carries a calm assurance that meaning can be found in routine, connection, and attentiveness to the world.
The Ferryman and His Wife is a heartfelt story about a life well lived, rendered with tenderness and grace. I recommend it to everyone—it is an unforgettable must-read.