Christmas is just around the corner, and Ronja and Melissa’s dreamer of a father is out of work again. When ten-year-old Ronja hears about a job at a Christmas tree stand near where the family lives in central Oslo, she excitedly tells her dad. Soon, the fridge fills with food, and their father comes back home with red cheeks and a smile on his face. But one evening he disappears into the night under the pretense of buying Christmas gifts—and the daughters know he has gone to his favorite local pub, Stargate, and they come to terms with the fact that he may soon lose his wonderful new job.

Melissa decides to take his place at the Christmas tree stand, working before and after school in the December afternoon dark, and bringing little Ronja with her, who quickly charms all the middle-class customers. On rare breaks the sisters dream of a brighter place of kindness and plenty, and find help from some of those around them—but both understand that their family structure is a precarious one, and that they are going to need luck and strength to transcend their circumstances.

Imaginatively told, evoking the delight, misunderstandings, and innocence of a child’s voice, Brightly Shining is small in stature but with an outsize impact on the reader, and has all the markings of a modern classic.

Praise for Brightly Shining:

“There is real magic in this charming novel about care, community, and the kindness of strangers. It is a deeply affecting story, beautifully told, that is sure to touch the hearts of many readers.”—Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo

“Deceptively simple, deceptively innocent, told from the perspective of a bright-eyed, too-wise child, Brightly Shining has the power of a classic. You will read it in a single sitting, then carry it in your heart.”—Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History

“Ingvild Rishøi creates distinct yet multifaceted characters. The protagonist Ronja is truly precious but it’s not only her that we are taken by as the story unfolds . . . A vivid story inducing laughter and tears, indignation and class-consciousness and, not least, a major dose of Christmas spirit.”—Adresseavisen (Norway) 

“The portrayal of two sisters’ attempts to survive Christmas is masterful, inescapable and deeply moving.”—Aftonbladet (Sweden) 

“Probably going to stay with me for the rest of my life . . . A magnificently beautiful story, at the intersection between Astrid Lindgren and H.C. Andersen . . . In the same league as the absolute best that has been written in Nordic literature.” —FriFagbevegelse (Norway)

“A little miracle of literature.”—Les Echos (France)