Given its huge worldwide impact, it is surprising more books don’t examine the impact of the Covid lockdown on society. For Helga Flatland though, in her latest novel Toxic, the pandemic is almost a character in its own right, an unexpected upheaval of normal routine, but also a catalyst for change, giving people the opportunity to review their lives and make major lifestyle changes.

One such person is Mathilde, a teacher from Oslo, who finds herself relocating to rural Norway during the pandemic. It’s not just the pandemic, however, that has forced her to move, her sexual relationship with an eighteen-year-old student the main driver of her fleeing the capital.

Her escape to a cottage on a dairy farm in rural northern Norway may initially seem idyllic but for brothers Andres and Johs, who run the farm, her arrival will be as disruptive as the Covid virus itself.

Flatland uses the Covid pandemic as a backdrop, and that sense of isolation and fear it generated sets up the tension nicely, it’s a story though that is wider than the pandemic, looking at exploitation, tradition, and questions the very notion of victimhood.

Who is the victim here is a good discussion point, and one that Flatland doesn’t answer, instead leaving the reader to draw their own conclusion. Mathilde may see herself as a victim, a woman seduced by handsome student Jakob, the fact that he’s above the age of consent overruling any concerns about abuse of position and power. For Jakob, though, the trauma of the relationship verges on abuse, even if, in his words the abuser ‘was a woman’.

There’s an interesting angle; in the post  #metoo world, seeing potential abuse of power for sexual fulfilment from the viewpoint of a female perpetrator. Jakob may have been a willing participant, but does that excuse his teacher’s actions? Flatland makes no effort to paint Mathilde in rose-tinted hues, we learn about a fractured family past and echoes of history that may be repeated with the teachers’ current situation, but it’s painted in a factual, first-hand narrative that leaves the reader as judge and jury.

Mathilde’s narrative isn’t the only voice here though, Flatland delivers Toxic as a dual first-person narrative work. Mathilde tells her story alongside the tale of Johs, the older brother of the farmers for whom Mathilde’s arrival causes more than a few shockwaves.

Initially, Johs’ world seems far removed from the city-dwelling life of Mathilde, but it soon becomes apparent that the same fears and demons drive the farmer. A family history that overshadows the present and a yearning to be loved.

Flatland’s prose, translated into English by Matt Bagguley, paints an evocative picture of Norwegian life, but one that anyone who struggled to keep a sense of normality during the pandemic will recognise. The contrasts between metropolitan Oslo and rural Norway are familiar to anyone who has had to adapt to a new pace of life.

It’s a brave move to centre a work around two characters who it is hard to warm to, but Flatland’s work doesn’t go easy on her narrators. Mathilde is oblivious to the pain she causes those around her while Johs is content to be the outside observer to life, rather than an active participant. That difficulty in warming to the characters does make Toxic somewhat of a hard read but it is an accurate, and timely, record of a challenging period of modern history. There’s certainly toxicity in the relationships played out here, but perhaps the original Norwegian title, Reverberations, gives a more accurate summary of the impact one person can have on a wider community.

Toxic by Helga Flatland, translated by Matt Bagguley, is released by Orenda Books on May 23, 2024