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In the early hours of the 7th of April 1990, a catastrophic blaze broke out aboard the ferry Scandinavian Star, a passenger ferry operating between Oslo and Frederikshavn. Insufficient staff preparedness combined with malfunctioning fire doors aided the propagation of the fire, while deadly cyanide gas emitted from burning materials led to the deaths of 159 individuals. At first, the tragedy was attributed to a traveler—a truck driver with a record of fire-setting. Since this suspect too died in the fire and was unable to refute himself, the full truth regarding the event remained hidden for a long time. Only in 2020 that a comprehensive documentary revealed the fire was likely set deliberately as part of an insurance fraud.

Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star Sequence: An Overview

In the initial book of Asta Olivia Nordenhof's epic series, Money to Burn, an unidentified narrator is traveling on a public transport through Copenhagen when she notices an elderly man on the street. As the vehicle moves away, she experiences an “uncanny feeling” that she is taking a part of him with her. Compelled to repeat the journey in search of him, the narrator enters a setting that is both alien and deeply familiar. She introduces us to a couple named Maggie and Kurt, whose relationship is tested by the pressures of their troubled histories. In the final pages of that book, it is implied that the source of the character's disaffection may originate in a poor investment made on his account by a individual known as T.

The Devil Book: A Unique Narrative Style

This second installment begins with an lengthy poetic passage in which the writer explains her struggle to write T's narrative. “In this volume, two,” she states, “we were supposed / to follow him / from childhood up until / the night / when he sat anticipating for / the report that / the fire / on the ferry / had successfully been / ignited.” Burdened by the undertaking she has assigned herself and disrupted by the global health crisis, she approaches the tale indirectly, as a type of parable. “It occurred to me / that I / can do / anything I want / so this / is my work / this is / for you / this is / an erotic thriller / about entrepreneurs and / the devil.”

A tale gradually emerges of a woman who experiences lockdown in London with a virtual stranger and during those weeks relates to him what occurred to her a ten years before, when she accepted an proposal from a man who claimed to be the devil to grant all her desires, so long as she didn't doubt his intentions. As the elements of the dual narratives become more intertwined, we begin to suspect that they are identical—or at minimum that the nature of T is legion, for there are devils all around.

There is another fire here: an ardent, magnetic dedication to literature as a political act

Pacts and Consequences: A Literary Exploration

Literature teach us that it is the dark figure who makes deals, not a divine being, and that we enter into them at our peril. But what if the protagonist herself is the devil? A third narrative comes finally to light—the account of a girl whose childhood was marred by abuse and who spent time in a psychiatric hospital, under duress to conform with societal norms or endure further harm. “[This entity] knows that in the game you've created for it, there are two results: surrender or remain a beast.” A alternative path is finally revealed through a collection of verses to the darkness that are simultaneously a call to arms against the influences of capital.

Connections and Interpretations: From Literature to Real Events

Numerous UK readers of the author's Scandinavian Star books will think right away of the Grenfell Tower fire, which, though accidental in origin, bears similarities in that the ensuing disaster and loss of life can be attributed at least partly to the devil's bargain of putting financial gain over people. In these initial books of what is planned to be a multi-volume series, the blaze on board the ship and the series of fraudulent transactions that culminated in multiple deaths are a ominous background presence, showing themselves only in fleeting glimpses of information or implication yet projecting a growing influence over all that transpires. Certain individuals may doubt how far it is possible to interpret this volume as a independent piece, when its aim and meaning are so intricately tied into a broader whole whose final form, at this stage, is unknowable.

Innovative Prose: Ethics and Aesthetics Intertwined

There will be others—and I include myself as one of them—who will fall in love with Nordenhof's project purely as text, as truly innovative writing whose ethical and artistic intent are so deeply interlinked as to make them inextricable. “Write poems / for we require / that as well.” Another kind of blaze exists: a passionate, magnetic devotion to writing as a statement. I intend to persist to follow this literary journey, no matter where it leads.