Cabin in the Mountains: A Norwegian Odyssey

The wooden holiday cabin, or hytte, is a staple of Norwegian life. Robert Ferguson, author of Scandinavians, explores the significance of a national icon in this charming, affectionate history.

Turf-roofed and wooden-built, offering fresh air, breathtaking views and peaceful isolation, the wooden cabin home - or hytte - is a crucial part of Norwegian national identity. In 2016, Robert Ferguson and his wife bought a piece of land high up in the Hardangervidda, and on it they built a cabin.

As the cabin takes shape, Ferguson learns how native Norwegians have married a new-found urban affluence to their past as a tight-knit rural community-nation, and confronts his own ideas about the dream-tradition of the hytte, drawing an affectionate but unsentimental portrait of Norwegian culture, society and landscape.

'Singular and captivating: the pursuit of a dream' Professor John Carey

'Illuminating' TLS

'An uncompromising journey into the dark cold north, to reveal the warmth that comes from deep community bonds' Tim Ecott

Review: 'Illuminating ... Insightful knowledge of Norway's cultural and social history' * TLS *
'Ferguson takes us on an uncompromising journey into the dark cold north, to reveal the warmth that comes from deep community bonds - qualities all too often lost in our modern urban lives' -- Tim Ecott
'Singular and captivating: the pursuit of a dream' -- Professor John Carey