Shamed schoolteacher, Mathilde, moves to a dairy farm in the Norwegian countryside for an ‘easier life’, but she’s soon up to her old tricks … upending and unsettling the lives of two reclusive farmers.  Exquisitely written, razor-sharp and simmering with an unexpected tension, Toxic marks the return of one of Norway’s finest writers…   'Flatland has the gift that I most often covet in the work of other writers: the ability to make everyday events compelling … how the quietest existence can brim with urgency and drama' Ann Morgan   ‘Helga Flatland writes with elegance and subtle humour' Daily Express   ‘The author has been dubbed the Norwegian Anne Tyler and for good reason’ Good Housekeeping   ––––––––––––––   When Mathilde is forced to leave her teaching job in Oslo after her relationship with eighteen-year-old Jacob is exposed, she flees to the countryside for a more authentic life.   Her new home is a quiet cottage on the outskirts of a dairy farm run by Andres and Johs, whose