16-year-old Emma wakes up in hospital with a gunshot wound to her stomach. She doesn’t quite remember what happened, but they say it was her father who shot her. As the sole survivor of a family tragedy, Emma must move to her grandmother far out in the country. The boy next door, Hannes, has photography as a hobby and would like to be friends with Emma.

The psychologist Beate says that Emma cannot move on until she remembers what has happened.

But Emma can’t remember – she doesn’t want to remember.

«Sting» is a strong novel about memory, about violence and about how one can once again find light in all that is dark.

“Sting is a powerful story about the daughter who lives on. (…) Syversen shows a great sense of telling details such as the stitches over the wound in the stomach” Guri Fjeldberg, Aftenposten

“Sting is a short, strong and effective youth novel about a family tragedy and the effects it has on the first-person narrator.” Astrid Fosvold, Periskop

“A concentrated, believable and poetic exploration of a serious trauma” Heidi Sævareid, Barnebokkritikk

Nominated to the Debutant Prize 2022, Trollkrittet

Nominated to the Ministry of Culture’s Debutant Prize 2022.