Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Danish by Sylvia Clayton

This short dystopian novella is enjoying a second life, it was originally published in Denmark in 1967 and translated into English in 1969, and enjoyed only moderate success. Faber Editions, who endeavour to find neglected books, have given it a reprint, and it seems it will gain a much wider readership second time round.

Our unnamed narrator is one of a group of wealthy guests at Hotel Termush who have purchased expensive places at the specially equipped residence before the apocalypse. Holm’s writing provides a chilling atmosphere from the outset, giving a gradual reveal to the state of the world from within the hotel’s grounds.
These elite, the residents, have survived the nuclear event in bunkers underground, and have now emerged to hotel life where it seems not much has changed.

In these days of emergence from a global pandemic, growing concerns of the use of nuclear weapons, and the growing popularity of far right politics determined to protect borders at all costs, the novel feels relevant, even prophetic.
Holm writes for his narrator in a deadpan style, which gives the tale a bleakness and an ethereal feeling that grasps the attention.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5