Name: On the Calculation of Volume (Book I)
Rating: 3.7375 (40 reviews)
ISBN: 9780811237253

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. They do not remember the other 18ths of November, and they do not believe her when she tries to explain.

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.

<i>On the Calculation of Volume I</i> was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, announced on April 8 2025.

But for everyone around her, this day is lived for the first and only time. They do not remember the other 18ths of November, and they do not believe her when she tries to explain.

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.

<i>On the Calculation of Volume I</i> was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, announced on April 8 2025.

Solvej Balle (b. 1962) 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 (1993), which was published in more than ten countries. Following this, she moved from Copenhagen to the small island of Ærø, where she wrote a book on art theory, a political memoir and four works of microprose and founded the publishing house Pelagraf. Nearly thirty years later, the first book of a planned septology, On the Calculation of Volume, was self-published. Six books have been published in Danish so far, with translations underway in over 30 countries