Karl Ove Knausgaard writes with exhilarating honesty about his childhood and teenage years, his infatuation with rock music, his relationship with his loving yet almost invisible mother and his distant and unpredictable father, and his bewilderment and grief on his father's death. When Karl Ove becomes a father himself, he must balance the demands of caring for a young family with his determination to write great literature. A Death in the Family is the first of the six books in the My Struggle cycle. In it Knausgaard has created a universal story which is gripping, hugely readable and written as if the author's very life were at stake. Another international sensation from the publishers of HHhH, 1Q84 and Coetzee's Summertime.

Karl Ove Knausgaard's first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win The Norwegian Critics' Prize, and his second novel, A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven, was widely acclaimed. A Death in the Family received the prestigious Brage Award. The My Struggle cycle has been heralded as a masterpiece wherever it appears. The six novels of the My Struggle cycle can be read independently or as one hugely ambitious project. This breathtaking cycle has been the greatest literary sensation in Norway in decades. The books have spurred a heated literary debate about the use of autobiographical elements in fiction, and about literary criticism in general. In addition to amazing reviews and several awards and nominations, this fascinating literary experiment has generated an enormous interest among journalists, critics and readers, resulting in hundreds of articles, commentaries, essays, blog posts and discussions.