Hafni says: I don’t want to be me.

I want to change who I am.

I don’t know how to change who I am.

Hafni says she’s getting divorced. To celebrate, she sets out across Denmark on a smørrebrød tour, to taste-test all of the best open-faced sandwiches her country has to offer. One month later, she makes a phone call from a lay-by to tell us where she went, what went wrong and why she’s been gone for three weeks longer than expected.

Marked by Helle Helle’s signature subtlety and infused with her dark humour, Hafni says explores the desire to be anyone but yourself – and what it means to rediscover who you are.

'Hafni Says is a radically experimental and completely unbridled book. It’s a novel about crisis and downfall, about the will to live, alienation, freedom, guilt and shame, and the heavy gaze of expectation. Simply put, it’s a novel about existence…Helle Helle has long proven that her authorship can’t be dismissed in a subordinate clause. Several of her novels already stand as masterpieces in Danish literature. Hafni Says is no exception.' Nordic Council Literature Prize Jury

'Hafni’s story makes you both laugh and cry. Full of situational comedy and consummate humour keen to the quirks of language. Full of sorrow and anxiety, simultaneously conveyed and assuaged by Helle’s marvellous writing (…) I envy anyone who is about to read this novel.' Politiken, 6/6 stars

'Helle Helle’s literary strength lies in writing about existential ruptures without describing them in words. She sticks to ordinary people and moves on the surface, on the outside.' NRK

ISBN-13: 9781836750277

Weight: 184 grams

Format: Paperback

Country of Origin (language): Denmark, Danish

Language: Danish tr. English

Pub Date: 14/05/2026

Page Extent: 160 Pages