Name: [Culture] Book Club: On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
Start: 2025-11-06T19:00:00+01:00
Location: Chaussée de Vleurgat 89, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium

[Culture] Book Club: On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle

Full Circle Book Club hosted by Eleonora Balsano
On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle
In the first part of Solvej Balle’s epic septology, Tara Selter has slipped out of time. Every morning, she wakes up to the 18th of November. She no longer expects to wake up to the 19th of November, and she no longer remembers the 17th of November as if it were yesterday. She comes to know the shape of the day like the back of her hand – the grey morning light in her Paris hotel; the moment a blackbird breaks into song; her husband’s surprise at seeing her return home unannounced. But for everyone around her, this day is lived for the first and only time. As Tara approaches her 365th 18th of November, she can’t shake the feeling that somewhere underneath the surface of this day, there’s a way to escape.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Solvej Balle is a Danish author and publisher. She made her debut in 1986 with Lyrebird and went on to write one of the 1990s’ most acclaimed works of Danish literature, According to the Law: Four Accounts of Mankind. Following this, she disappeared from the spotlight, moving from Copenhagen to the small island of Ærø, where she founded her publishing house, Pelagraf. Nearly 30 years later, the first book of a planned septology, On the Calculation of Volume I, was self-published. Five books have been published in Danish so far, with translations underway, and it was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.