El día que Nils Vik murió

Nils Vik is an elderly widower whose health is failing. He has worked hard piloting a ferry and lived an austere life somewhere on the west coast of Norway. One autumn morning, he realizes that the day has come. Following his routine, he gets up and shaves before heading out onto the fjord to begin his final voyage. In a literal sense, but also symbolically: the other shore represents death. As part of his preparations, he leaves his house tidy and clean. Then, to prevent anyone from rummaging through his most intimate belongings, he burns the mattress he shared with his wife, boards the ferry, and leaves the dock behind. Throughout his life, he has ferried couples and sheep destined for slaughter, ministers and actors, priests and teachers across the fjord. He has come to know all facets of human life, and many of the passengers who occupied a place in his logbook, though now deceased, reappear in this story. One by one, they reminisce about a time when little was said, but almost everything was known about each other. And although Nils also prefers to keep his tongue to himself, he maintains lively, often witty, inner dialogues with his long-deceased dog, Luna. Why does Nils Vik decide to die that day? Is it the reunion with his wife, Marta, that drives him? Or has he felt finished since the new bridge connecting both sides of the fjord has rendered his job obsolete?