New novel brings old Odense tragedies into play.

In her new novel Diskarma, author Cecilie Overbye has dug into the history of Odense in the 1960s. A visit to the local history archive and a trip past the scene of one of Odense's greatest tragedies tied up the final pieces of the novel's plot.

“I had some specific criteria that I was looking for when I was doing research for my novel Diskarma, and they led me to the bullet train accident. I read a lot about the accident and about Odense in general during the same period, and of course I came across the case of the Bassedrengen, and it just fit right in with my plot,” says Cecilie Overbye, who lives in North Zealand. So the trip to Odense to do some research. It turned into several hours of exciting reading in old newspapers at the local history archive. Cecilie bought the Odensebogen from 2017 to take home to read about the accident. One of the pictures in the book was so exciting that she used it for a scene in the novel. Afterwards, Cecilie drove out to Seden Strand, which also features in the novel. The main character’s grandfather lives here in one of the old summer houses. “I think you owe it to your readers to have been there yourself. Have taken a walk on the beach, seen the high tide marks and felt the wind in your hair. You also think so well outdoors,” says Cecilie, who herself spends many hours outdoors, including mountain biking and winter swimming. Before the research trip returned to Copenhagen, the author visited Ejby, right by the viaduct where the accident happened. “It gave me a sinking feeling to stand at the place where the trains crashed. When you write, it’s as if you were there yourself. You feel the anxiety, the panic and the pain.” On Guldstjernevej she stopped and chose one of the houses as her main character’s childhood home. “For me, it was important to know exactly what my childhood house looked like. I can immediately better imagine robbers and Indians behind the hedge. And the loneliness behind the curtain in the main character Jan’s room on the first floor.”

A novel becomes a reality At home in Hørsholm, the writing began. The plot was laid out, the story and background were ready, and now the imagination took over. “I had heard a fantastic story from real life about guilt, and I just had to write it. In Diskarma, I have worked with what the feeling of guilt does to a person. Even though my story is fiction, I wanted to have as realistic a set-up as possible. That is why I have chosen to work from real events and let the fiction unfold from there.”

Cecilie Overbye's novel Diskarma is a portrait of the angry, self-righteous man. About guilt, identity and the love that hides where you least expect it. It's been several years since Susanne left, but dentist Jan still believes that one day they will find each other again. He just needs to change a little. Or pull himself together. To endure the patients and life, he sniffs nitrous oxide while dreaming back to his uncomplicated childhood. One day, the clinic assistant walks in the door while he is sitting with the nitrous oxide mask over his face and the limb in his hand, and Jan hits rock bottom. When his father dies, Jan is confronted with a host of unexpected consequences.

Cecilie Overbye b. 1973, is a dentist trained at the University of Copenhagen. Cecilie Overbye made her debut as an author with the biography Indefra in 2016. Here she talks frankly about the horrible side effects of the malaria drug Lariam, the complete mental breakdown and the struggle to both become a world champion and a whole person again. Survival in Nepal becomes the focal point of both Cecilie's life and writing. The novel Jens Petersen's extended spring was published in 2020.

Diskarma will be published by Odenseforlaget Brændpunkt on April 28th.