Out stealing horses is about an elderly man who starts living an isolated life but soon finds he is not alone. Memories of his past keep filling his mind, and coincidentally a man from his past turns out to be a close neighbor.
This book tells about a tragedy that changes the lives of many people. It recounts a close relationship with a father that comes to a quick and unexpected end.
It is about physical work and the feeling of accomplishment it brings with it.
The end of the book describes a day in the protagonist's youth when his mother bought him his first grown-up suit:
We were never to walk that way again. When we came home to Oslo, she fell back into her own weight and remained that way for the rest of her life. But on that day in Karlsbad we walked arm in arm down the street. My new suit fitted my body so lightly and moved with me every step I took. The wind still came icily down between the houses from the river, and my hand felt swollen and sore where the nails had pierced the skin when I clenched it so hard, but all the same everything felt fine at that moment; the suit was fine, and the town was fine to walk in, along the cobblestone street, and we do decide for ourselves when it will hurt.
Per Peterson has written four other novels. "Out Stealing Horses" was translated from the Norwegian by Anne Born
