The Ferryman and His Wife

• Author: Frode Grytten
• Genre: Literary Fiction
• Publication Date: November 18, 2025
• Publisher: Algonquin Books

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In the spirit of Amor Towles and George Saunders, the renowned, bestselling Norwegian author Frode Grytten takes listeners on a quietly epic ferry driver Nils Vik’s last route along the fjord, on what he knows will be his last day alive.

Nils Vik wakes up on November the 18th and knows it will be the day he dies. He follows his morning routine as voices from his past echo in his mind, and looks around the empty house one last time, before stepping onto his beloved boat.

His dog, dead these many years, leaps aboard with him, and then the other dead begin to emerge—from the woods along the fjord, from each of the ferry stops along the route, from his logbook full of memories and quotations and jotted-down notes about the weather conditions. The people from the past accompany him now, prodding him, showing him what he might have missed before, as he waits for his Marta, his late, remarkable wife, to finally join him on the boat again.

Winner of the prestigious Brage Prize, and considered to be Grytten’s long-awaited masterpiece, The Ferryman and His Wife is the story of a quiet, yet utterly profound, life told in reverse. Timeless and absorbing, this is a novel about what we take with us—those moments that might seem insignificant as they happen but prove to be the most meaningful, in the end.

I’ve only read Scandinavian literature in the mystery genre, and really enjoyed it. This sounded really interesting, the idea of literally watching your life pass before your eyes on your last day alive. The premise of a regular ferry driver almost living the highlights in his life before he dies sounded like something that would interest me. However, the concept didn’t come through as well in action.

Nils is an easy character to like. He’s kind, patient, easygoing, and devoted to his wife, even though she has passed away. Reliably driving the ferry boat for decades, he has become a quietly well-known figure in the fjord. However, his route on November 18th is a little different—it’s the last day of his life. I’m not sure how he knew that exact day, but there were a couple of hints that he was not just elderly, but dealing with a serious illness as well. One of his most endearing traits, in my opinion, was the way he would still keep up conversations with Marta, his late wife. Living alone can wear on a person, especially if they’ve become used to living with others.

Knowing he has one last day left, he still goes to work and drives the ferry across the fjord. But as he goes, characters from his past appear. They board the ferry at his usual stops, materialize out of the woods, and the story is told from through his ferry logbook entries. As he follows his usual route, each of these characters from his past arrive to show him how much of an impact he’s had on other people. 

This book gave me similar vibes to The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. It’s a very slow-paced story, and there was no feel of urgency to the story. Side characters appear to move the story along, but they aren’t very well-developed so there isn’t much to them aside from how Nils reacts to them and what he recalls of them. I struggled with the slow pace and how little actually happened in the story, just like with Hemingway’s book.

I did like the idea of how much of an impact a person can make without doing anything special or heroic, just doing their job and being pleasant. Luna, his dog, won me over immediately, but I loved how the dog was the first character from his past to revisit him, and she kept him company on the boat the whole time. 

Overall, this was an okay read for me. I’m glad that I read it, but I’m probably going to back to Scandinavian mysteries after this. Nils was an easy character to read about and empathize with—he’s a simple man who lives a simple life, and is happy with what he has, but he’s elderly and clearly lonely. I was happy to see that he was appreciated and that he knew how much others appreciated and valued him. But ultimately, it left me with the feeling that every interaction we have with others has the opportunity to have a meaningful impact on them. I know I’ll be thinking about my random conversations a little differently now.

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