Land Of Hidden Fires

By Kirk Kjeldsen

Occupied Norway, 1943. After seeing an allied plane go down over the mountains, headstrong fifteen year-old Kari Dahlstrøm sets out to locate the wreck. She soon finds the cocky American pilot Lance Mahurin and offers to take him to Sweden, pretending she's a member of the resistance. While her widower father Erling and the disillusioned Nazi Oberleutnant Conrad Moltke hunt them down, Kari begins to fall for Lance, dreaming of a life with him in America. Over the course of the harrowing journey, though, Kari learns hard truths about those around her as well as discovering unforeseen depths within herself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grenzland Press
• Release date: Jan 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9780998465715

Kirk Kjeldsen

Kirk Kjeldsen received an MFA from USC and is currently an assistant professor in the cinema program at VCU’s School of the Arts. His first novel, Tomorrow City, was named one of the ten best books of 2013 by the New Jersey Star-Ledger. He also adapted the poetry of Tarjei Vesaas into the feature film Gavagai, directed by Rob Tregenza. He lives in Germany with his wife and two children.

Book preview

"The surface is calm

in the land of fires,

nothing can be seen,

everything is in balance.

But things are in motion

at this moment

like molten avalanches

in the interior mountains.

They know it, those few

who have looked through the fissures

and felt the heat rise."

—Tarjei Vesaas

(as translated by Anthony Barnett)

CHAPTER 1

The Stjørdalen Valley, Norway

March 1943

Kari looked up from mending a damaged sheep pen when she heard the faint buzzing noise. At first, it sounded like the blackflies that swarmed up from Lake Rømsjøen every summer, but she knew that couldn’t be, as it was still weeks before the thaw. She scanned the horizon, looking for the origin of the sound. There was nothing but empty grey space in every direction. Then she looked southward and spotted a fighter plane streaking across the sky. Thick black smoke trailed from its fuselage as it plummeted toward the mountains.

Even if she hadn’t seen its Army Air Force markings, she knew by the whistling sound of its engine that it was a P-47. She’d seen a few in December, over Trondheim, escorting a bomber on its way back to England. She dropped the heavy stone she’d been carrying and hurried back to the barn, clumping through shin-deep snow in men’s boots that were two sizes too big for her. Before long, her thin chest ached from sucking in the cold air, but she rushed onward, unable to contain her excitement.

She found her father inside their ramshackle barn, hunched over a thin and sick-looking ewe. Erling Dahlstrøm was a mountain of a man, corded with thick, knotty muscles. Even while kneeling, he was almost the same height as his daughter. Broken-faced and ravaged by life, he looked much older than his forty-one years.

Kari spoke as soon as she entered the barn.

There’s a plane, she said, gasping for breath.

Erling replied in his gravelly voice without looking up.

Not now.

But it’s the Allies—

Erling interrupted Kari.

It’s none of our business, he said, finding a swollen and mottled patch of skin on one of the hind legs of the ewe.

But father—

Erling snapped at Kari.

I said no!

Before Kari could reply, Erling turned his attention back to the ewe. He unsheathed his knife and lifted the animal’s head.

Then he slit its throat.

Kari left the barn, boiling with rage. She got a sledge axe from the shed and went out past the sheep pens to split wood, which she often did when her anger got a hold of her. Though scrawny for a fifteen-year-old and scant through the arms and waist, she worked like a man twice her size. Even though the temperature was near freezing, she quickly worked up a sweat, and she peeled off her ratty wool coat to cool down.

She piled one stack of splits and then started in on another, and then another. She kept going until the day turned to night, and the sky had become as purple-black as a bruise. After she finished, she put the axe back in the shed and headed to the barn, where she watered and fed the sheep. It didn’t take long, as their dwindling flock was down to seventeen head, or less than a third of what they’d had before Germany had invaded. Most of the sheep that had survived blackleg had succumbed to starvation, and the few that weren’t starving had been sold to the Germans in order to keep from losing the farm.

She fed the ewes first, the ones she called Rita and Mae West after her favorite Hollywood stars. In better times, they’d had barley to feed their sheep, but they rarely even had hay anymore and were down to feeding them wheat middlings and by-products they got from a nearby distiller. She fed the rams next, Humphrey and Errol and the Duke, and then their lambs, which she didn’t even bother naming, knowing that few would make it to the summer. After she finished with the sheep, she gave some silage to Loki, their old mule, and a bit of hay to Torden, their last horse. Before the war, Erling had had a team of six dun-colored Fjords they’d used for plowing and pulling logs to the river. One by one, they’d sold them off or slaughtered them for food, and they were down to a seventeen-year-old gelding whose best days were behind him.

After finishing with the animals, Kari made her way back to their run-down house. She looked inside one of the hoarfrosted windows and saw her father eating a meager supper at the kitchen table, eyes cast downward and head bowed like a penitent. Wanting to avoid him, she waited outside in the shadows, shivering and blowing on her hands to keep them warm. To pass the time, she traced the old constellations her grandfather had taught her. She spotted Thor’s chariot, and the fisherman, and Ulf’s Keptr, or the mouth of the wolf. She saw the Asar battlefield, the great wagon, and the road of the dead. She could even make out Aurvandil’s toe, a sign of spring’s coming victory over the winter.

Once she finished counting the stars, Kari looked back through the window and saw Erling leaving the kitchen, taking a lit oil lamp with him. She continued to wait outside until she saw Erling’s bedroom door close behind him, then carefully opened the front door and entered the house. She crept into the kitchen and got a husk of stale bread from the pantry, choking it down dry. It wasn’t much—before the war, they often had dumplings or herring for lunch, and gjetost and brown bread or sliced egg sandwiches nearly every night—and even though she could taste the gritty sawdust they’d mixed in with the wheat to stretch it out, it was far better than rutabaga fried in cod liver oil, or salted horse meat, or even no supper at all, which was often the case since the Germans had invaded.

She washed down the bread with some coppery-tasting pail water. Then she lit another lamp and made her way toward her room, pausing or changing tack every time a board groaned beneath her feet. At one point, she heard her father stirring, and she stopped and waited, afraid that Erling might come out and confront her. But Erling didn’t come out, and the stirring soon ceased, and Kari continued on her way.

She got to her room and slipped inside, gently closing the door behind her. Then she put the lamp atop her dresser and took off her sweaters and trousers, stripping to her long underwear. Glancing out the window, she watched the winds file down the snowdrifts, wondering what had happened to the P-47, and whether it had crashed into the mountains. Surely it couldn’t have made it, she thought to herself. It’d been sinking like a stone, a plume of thick black smoke billowing in its wake. She wondered if the pilot had gone down with the plane, or if the pilot had bailed out, and if the latter, what had happened to him, if he’d actually reached the ground alive.

She finished undressing, then crawled underneath the bed’s thick covers and waited for the warmth to come. While she lay there, she glanced over at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island postcards that her Uncle Agnar had sent her from New Jersey, where he lived, and the pictures of Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart that she’d cut out of the Film Weekly and Picturegoer magazines she’d found at the rubbish heap. She soon found herself thinking about her mother. What would she have done, Kari wondered, if she’d still been alive, and had seen the plane going down? She’d believed in taking stands, unlike Kari’s father. She’d fought for independence from Sweden as a schoolgirl, and she’d demonstrated for suffrage as a young woman. She’d even struggled valiantly against the cancer that had whittled her to a skeleton before claiming her in her thirty-fourth year. She wouldn’t have just ignored it.

Kari stared up at the beamed ceiling, unable to sleep. Her thoughts kept circling back to the plane. She turned and looked out the window again, where she saw vacuous shapes merging and breaking apart in the blowing snow.

After a long moment, she got up and pulled on her clothes.

CHAPTER 2

Kari dressed as quietly as she could and draped her covers over her pillow to make it look like she was still sleeping. Then she left her bedroom. She slowly retraced her route back to the kitchen, avoiding the minefield of creaky boards in her path. When she finally got to the front door, she pulled on her ratty overcoat and boots and went outside.

She carefully closed the door behind her, trying not to rouse her father or their flock. Then she made her way across their property, heading in the direction of the mountains. Overhead, the full moon shone like a bowl of fresh cream, luminous and pale. Since she’d gone inside, the temperature had fallen a few more degrees, and she could see her breath crystallizing in the air before her.

She soon passed their crumbling barn. A skittish ewe rustled about inside, then stopped when another ewe bleated at it. After crossing their property, Kari went over the frozen brook that served as a border between their farm and the farm of their neighbors, the Jacobsens, who lived in a large yellow house with electricity and indoor plumbing. There were rumors that the Jacobsens were Quislings, and that they supplied information to the Nazis. They had a herd ten times the size of Erling’s, and they even had a number of milking cows, which had been a rarity since the war had broken out.

Kari stayed along the edge of the large property, not wanting to draw the attention of Audr and Odo, the Jacobsens’ elkhounds. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally entered the forest and began to wind her way through the rough country. It was darker there, and quieter; all sounds were buffered by the snow and trees. The heavy boughs of the spruces and pines grew back toward the earth as if gravity had reversed itself, laden with snow and ice. Things moved in the shadows, playing tricks on her eyes; trembling branches became the jangling legs of spiders, and heaving pine boughs became the shaggy beards of trolls.

After a while, a wolf howled in the distance, startling Kari. A chill ran down her spine, and she regretted not putting on another sweater before she’d left their house. She buried her fists in the deep pockets of her woolen coat and continued on her way. Before long, she came across the spaced tracks of a mountain hare, its tiny footfalls barely breaking through the thick crust atop the snow.

Kari soon spotted the splintered crown of a tall spruce in the distance, and then another, and then a knocked-down birch. Her heartbeat quickened, and she picked up her pace. A short distance later, she saw the rudder of the P-47, emerging from a snowdrift like the dorsal fin of a shark. She followed the trail of the wreckage, and she soon came upon a rear gun mount assembly, and then the tail gear axle, and then the wings. Not long after that, she spotted the plane’s fuselage. It looked like a bathtub, and it lay crumpled against rocks at the end of a long, deep groove in the frozen earth.

She slowly approached the fuselage. The area around it reeked of gasoline and burnt rubber, stinging her nostrils and eyes. The plane’s landing gear was gone, its propeller had sheared off, and the canopy was smashed. The name MAJOR LANCE MAHURIN was painted beneath the cockpit window, above six small German crosses, and the words ROZZIE BETH were painted in looping red cursive by the nose.

Kari reached forward and touched the side of the plane, expecting to feel heat or vibrations or even electricity. Instead, the riveted steel panel was stone still and as cold as ice. She carefully climbed onto to the tail of the plane and scuttled her way toward the nose. Then she peered into the darkened cockpit, expecting the worst, but she found it empty, other than the shattered pieces of the instrument panel.

She climbed down from the plane and searched the wreck site, looking for footprints or signs of the pilot. There wasn’t much, though, other than a headset and a dented canteen. She scanned the area, but there were no further clues. She closed her eyes and turned until she could feel the wind blowing straight at her. Once certain of its path, she set out in the direction it was blowing, assuming that any parachutes would’ve been carried that way.

Kari pushed deeper into the forest and soon came upon another set of mountain hare tracks. Then she found the mussel-shaped tracks of a roe deer,

Reviews for Land Of Hidden Fires

[tamarack804-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thanks Net Galley for Land of Hidden Fires by Kirk Kjeldsen. The book is about a young girl leading a downed American pilot to Sweden after crashing his plane in occupied Norway. Being chased by the Germans they must do everything possible to survive not only them but must also the Nordic winter along the way. A good easy read with simple plot, I finished in a couple of days. Although not a very intense book I enjoyed the read and will read other books by this author.

[timbazzett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

LAND OF HIDDEN FIRES is Kirk Kjeldsen's second novel (the first was TOMORROW CITY), and it is cinematic in feel and scope, which should probably not be surprising, since Kjeldsen is also a film maker. In fact the sky, the land and weather are almost characters in this chilling (in every way) story of a fifteen year-old Norwegian girl, Kari, helping a downed American pilot evade Nazi occupiers in 1943 northern Norway.I was initially reminded of the film, BEHIND ENEMY LINES, in which an American pilot (played by Owen Wilson) was shot down behind enemy lines in Bosnia. Unfortunately, this comparison doesn't last long, because the pilot in Kjeldsen's story, Major Lance Mahurin, is poorly developed as a character, and is not even particularly likeable. I suspect the girl, Kari, was meant to be the hero, but instead she comes across as rather shallow and dreamy, although her actions, as she escorts the pilot through rugged mountain terrain to the Swedish border and safety, are certainly brave enough. If there is a hero to be found here, I would pick the girl's widowed father, Erling Dahlstrom, who leaves his failing sheep farm behind to try to find his daughter and protect her from the pursuing Nazi troops. There are a couple of villains to the tale: the Nazi officer pursuing Kari and Lance, who resents being stuck in this far northern backwater of the war; and a ragged Norwegian turncoat who was once a friend of Erling Dahlstrom. Again, neither of these men really ever emerge as fully developed characters. Indeed, Sverre the Norwegian seems almost comical, as he pedals maniacally about the snowy landscape on a rusty bicycle with makeshift rope wheels.While Kjeldsen has obviously done his homework - on the era, the Nazi occupation of Norway and its strategic importance, the landscape, flora and fauna of the place, even to the Norse names for the various constellations of stars - the novel suffers from the aforementioned lack of character development, as well as a somewhat lumbering pace, as chapter after chapter follows the fugitives climbing over rugged ridges, descending deep into valleys, crossing rivers - and much of this is undertaken riding double in freezing temperatures for days on an old horse who never seems to get fed. Credibility is stretched thin in many key scenes, in fact, as when Erling, forced to abandon his donkey, doggedly continues his pursuit on a pair of old skis he just happens to find in a deserted cabin, where he also finds an equally 'old' bow and arrows, which come into play later in a DELIVERANCE-like climactic scene. In the end, the characters and story of LAND OF HIDDEN FIRES are, it seems to me, all but subsumed by the setting, by Kjeldsen's powerful descriptions of the lowering sky and ever-changing clouds, the frozen ridges, ravines and rivers, the bone-chilling cold of the sub-Arctic winter. These are the strongest elements of the book, and would come through even more strongly on film, in much the same way the river played a major role in the film, DELIVERANCE, or the windswept winter steppe in DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. I cannot help but think that Kjeldsen was picturing all this as he wrote, perhaps even 'framing' the scenes.The premise of LAND OF HIDDEN FIRES excited me. I thought of Steinbeck's fine novel of WWII Norway, THE MOON IS DOWN, and the film that followed. Kjeldsen's book, I'm sorry to say, doesn't even come close. But a film adaptation might. I will watch for it. (three and a half stars)- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

[Guy Cabell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very good story, all in all, with interesting characters, and as always marks my reaction to a book, characters that I would like to know what happened to them next. Mr. Kjeldsen brings everything together without going into excessive descriptions, thus simplifying the story and not distracting from the action.

[hjvanderklis_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In The Land of Hidden Fires by Kirk Kjeldsen one single resistance rescue action is described taking place in Occupied Norway, 1943. An allied plane is shot down. The brave fifteen-year-old Kari Dahlstrøm locates the wreck and finds the American pilot Lance Mahurin. Pretending to be part of the Norwegian resistance she offers to guide Lance to the Swedish border. More people are hunting on Mahurin, such as Kari's father Erling and the Nazi Oberleutnant Conrad Moltke hunt them down, Kari begins to fall for Lance. Will Lance and Kari reach neutral Sweden in time, and not get stuck in the icy winter landscape? Love blossoms and dies, will hate prevail or man's virtue? A rather short, and straightforward war story mixed with love and a fine taste of culture and languages (German, Norwegian, Swedish) next to the main plot set in English.

[sarah_gruwell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A riveting tale of suspense, survival, and danger, this title has some strong points in its favor for a small publishing houseself-published book. The reader can't help but be pulled chapter to chapter, being held on the edge of their seat to see what happens. While not perfect, I'd still highly recommend this book.Strongest point is the suspenseful story and how well the author does in keeping the audience engaged. Reading as a spy thriller mixed with a coming of age, the narrative has no problem flowing from scene to scene. The author has a talent in keeping the tension ratcheted up as Kari and Lance make for the Swedish border in frigid temperatures and with enemies hot on their tails. The alternating POV's do detract a bit from this aspect; however, the author still keeps things ramped up enough to make the climax a suspenseful showdown and a growing experience for Kari.I'm not sure if the author is a native of Norway; his name might suggest so. His bio says he lives in Germany and got his degree in California. Yet, even so, his depth of knowledge and way of conveying the landscape and aura of Norway are incredible. I could literally feel the frigid mountain majesty of the northern peaks and feel the bite of the snow on my cheek. Very specific mountain, river, and town place names puts the reader right into the country. A country held under the Nazi thumb also came through vividly. The struggle to survive both the climate and the oppressors added a depth to the story.When it comes to characterizations, this book also stands out. Each POV and secondary character has their own distinct personality and motivations. There was also a significant change and growth as the story progresses. This was especially evident in Lance and Kari as they struggle through the frigid arctic conditions, the dire circumstances that arose revealing their true natures. Yet in all parties explored, the author has a deft hand when it comes to revealing the inner depths of his character’s psyches. We really got to know everyone, which isn't always the case in a book this short.There's one aspect that is this books shortcoming, though, and it sort of falls in this area. For a book that clocks in at 212 pages according to Goodreads, I felt like this book had too many POV's. The count standing at four, I felt like I was ripped from one tale to another, just as I was getting into the action of a certain storyline. Some of the suspense got lost and at times, the POV's would get muddled. While engaging, Sturre’s POV in particular, felt completely superfluous. The bits he added to the story could have been better done with Kari, Erling, or Moltke.At the end of the day, though, this dynamic tale of survival, escape, and resistance keeps the reader engaged. Great characters, a vibrant setting, and action filled narrative keep the story hopping to a fantastic climax. Despite that one fallback, I still feel comfortable recommending this tale to lovers of historical fiction, especially for World War II fans and those who love spy thrillers. Not many tales explore World War II occupied Norway, so this is a real treat.Note: Book received for free from author in exchange for an honest review.

[silversreviews · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A motherless child who disliked her father, a downed airplane during WWII, an escape, and a German officer searching for the downed pilot.Kari did not get along with her father and simply just made it through each day. Her father was not like her. Kari was always curious about things. Her father just wanted to go on with his farming and take no interest in what was going on around him.The day Kari saw a plane crash was the day she realized she had to do something for the pilot and the day she saw her chance to leave. She decided she would take Lance, the American soldier, to Sweden.LAND OF HIDDEN FIRES allows the reader to experience the dangerous trip Kari and Lance took in the freezing weather while they feared being caught by the Germans and as Kari felt remorse about leaving her father and taking his horse and carriage. We continue as three characters pursue three different journeys but for connected reasons.We follow Kari and Lance as they head to freedom for Lance in Sweden.We follow Kari's father, Erling, as he searches for his young daughter.We follow the German officer as he searches for Lance.Mr. Kjeldsen has wonderful descriptions of the landscape, the characters, and the thoughts and feelings of the characters.I liked the thought at the end of the book that said: “People seemed to be full of hidden fires, invisible to one another and often even invisible to oneself.” If you have the pleasure of reading this book, you will understand the quote.I enjoyed LAND OF HIDDEN FIRES. The book was sensitive, thoughtful, but definitely tense. I think readers will enjoy the hidden, emotional messages as well as Mr. Kjeldsen’s marvelous writing style and story line that kept me turning the pages and wanting to get back to the characters' journeys. 4/5This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the author in return for an honest review.