The School of Night

London. 1985. A city rife with possibility and desire. One young man who wants it all.

Kristian Hadeland, young and ambitious, has moved to London to study photography; he knows that he and his art are destined for more. His family never understood him, and his fellow photography students bore him. But when he meets Hans, an eccentric Dutch artist, the future he yearns for becomes possible--as long as he is willing to sacrifice everything and stop at nothing.

Twenty-four years later, Kristian sees his dreams come to fruition when a major retrospective of his work is held in New York City. As his past catches up to him, Kristian's world begins to crumble. Success comes at a price, but is he prepared to pay it?

In a thrilling twist on Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, Karl Ove Knausgaard masterfully spins a cautionary tale about the lengths that we will go to achieve success--and how far we are willing to fall. His most daring and macabre novel yet, The School of Night is an indelible tale about dark temptations and moral depravity, and what we forget when we bargain with the devil.

Author: Karl Ove Knausgaard
Publisher: Penguin Press
Published: 01/13/2026
Pages: 512
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.70lbs
Size: 9.41h x 6.21w x 1.71d
ISBN: 9780593832806


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 01/01/2026
Publishers Weekly 11/24/2025
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2025

About the Author
Karl Ove Knausgaard's first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win the Norwegian Critics' Prize, and his second, A Time for Everything, was longlisted for the 2010 International Dublin Literary Award. The My Struggle cycle of novels has been heralded as a masterpiece wherever it has appeared. His work is published in thirty-five languages.

Martin Aitken's translations of Scandinavian literature number some thirty-five books. His work has appeared on the shortlists of the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award and the 2018 U.S. National Book Award, as well as the 2021 International Booker Prize. He received the PEN America Translation Prize in 2019.