Summary of The Exception
“The Exception” follows the story of four women working for a small Danish non-profit organisation that publishes information on genocide and war crimes. When one of them receives a life-threatening email, she initially suspects it to be the work of a Serbian war criminal she has just written an article about. However, things quickly spiral out of control, leading everyone to suspect each other.
Reasons to read The Exception
“The Exception” is a literary psychological thriller and an international bestseller by Danish author Christian Jungersen. The book illustrates how evil on a small scale, such as manipulations between colleagues, shares the same emotional roots as evil on a large scale, such as genocide. In other words, hatred often begins at a very modest level. Jungersen’s novel won Denmark’s Golden Laurel award (De Gyldne Laurbær) in 2004 and was voted the best Danish novel from 2000-2009 by readers of the newspaper Berlingske Tidende in 2009. The book was adapted into a film of the same title in 2019, starring Sidse Babett Knudsen (known for her role as Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg in the Danish TV series “Borgen”).
Setting: Copenhagen (Denmark)
Original title: Undtagelsen
Year of publication: 2004
Nr of pages: 502
