Star Tribune: Lorna Landvik, decades ahead of the hygge curve

Twenty-two years after "Patty Jane's House of Curl," Lorna Landvik revisits her plucky crew of talented misfits and smitten lovers in a heartwarming stand-alone sequel.

Once in a Blue Moon Lodge (Lorna Landvik)By now you’ve likely heard of the Danish concept hygge (pronounced hue-gah or hoo-gah). Think cozy socks and a warm fire while the storm — political or otherwise — rages outside. Think harmony, gratitude, shelter. Shortlisted for the Oxford Dictionary’s 2016 Word of the Year, hygge is that “quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.”

Decades ahead of the hygge curve, Minneapolis author and comedian Lorna Landvik burst onto the literary scene in 1995 with her debut novel “Patty Jane’s House of Curl,” a tale of two sisters tackling a string of woes with intelligence, perseverance and Scandinavian homeyness. That novel was such a compelling portrait of two strong women enduring hardship and embracing whatever cast of misfits crossed their paths that now, reading about these same characters in her latest novel, “Once in a Blue Moon Lodge,” feels like a reunion of old friends. Pick up a pastry and a cup of kaffe and enjoy.

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Published in: Star Tribune
By: Christine Brunkhorst