The Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth’s latest novel to be translated into English, “If Only,” follows a decade-long affair between two married writers. By Brian Dillon Brian Dillon is the author, most ...

A married woman named Ida meets a married man named Arnold at a conference they are both attending. She sleeps with him, and the two part company. However, Ida is smitten. More than smitten. Obsessed.

In If Only, the Norwegian novelist distills a story of romance into all its private discomfort and claustrophobia. Its intense ambivalence in regards to love feels truer to life. Summer Interior by ...