The Jossing Affair by Janet Oakley

Cover for J.L. Oakley’s fine new novel

I am so pleased to report that I attended Janet Oakley’s book launch of The Jøssing Affair last night at Village Books in Fairhaven.

Congratulations, Janet Oakley!

I had the distinct honor of editing The Jøssing Affair for Janet and discussing her novel with her in great detail–down to the line and word level–over several months.

Dear reader, please understand that it was a superb novel before I started editing, copy-editing, and line editing! I hope I helped Janet make her novel even better.

The Jøssing Affair is a superb historical novel about the German occupation of Norway during World War II. (Jøssing is pronounced “jussing” with a soft ‘j.’)

Tore Haugland is a jøssing, a patriot. However, few people in the small shoreline village of Fjellstad know. Many believe him to be a simple “deaf-mute” fisherman. In actuality, he is a Norwegian patriot trained by the English as a spy aiding the Resistance in Nazi-occupied Norway. To complicate matters, Tore Haugland falls in love with Anna Fromme–“The Woman”–a woman of German ancestry living with her young daughter Lisel in Fjellstad. Anna Fromme has secrets of her own.

After reading Janet Oakley’s novel, I am very interested in visiting Norway.

If you read one historical novel this year, read The Jøssing Affair!

The Jøssing Affair is available at Village Books. If you can’t make it to this world-class independent bookstore, order your copy here.

Janet Oakley is also the author of two earlier historical novels, Tree Soldier and Timber Rose. Highly recommended!

Regarding The Jøssing Affair: I have received remuneration for my work on this novel, but not this blog post. I am recommending it as a fine historical novel.

Sincerely,

Andrew Shattuck McBride