Amalie Langballe (b. 1992) spent most of her childhood in the small town of Stenstrup on the island of Funen, Denmark. In 2002, when she was ten, her mother was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and subsequently passed away in 2016. That experience has both directly and indirectly shaped Langballe’s path to becoming an author.

A literary debut was by no means a given; after graduating from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in 2017, she spent several years working as a freelance journalist and columnist for newspapers, magazines, and online outlets such as Dagbladet Information, Alt for damerne, Vice, and POV. Langballe drew considerable attention for her intensely personal columns and opinion pieces, in which she wrote about sex and the grief of losing her mother.

Her debut Forsvindingsnumre was widely praised and earned Langballe the 2019 Debutant of the Year award at Bogforum. Her latest novel, Loving, was published in 2025.

Agent: Elin Sandström Lundh

Published Lindhardt og Ringhof 2025
Genre Literary fiction
Pages 204

Rights sold
Dutch: Atlas Contact
Swedish: Mondial

As both the plague and the summer heat ravage the country, a nobleman, as a joke, sends his infertile wife to the capital to work at an infamous brothel. There, the noblewoman learns secrets and lies, abuse, power, and money, and what it means to surrender her body to another without reservation. The brothel, which lies near the King’s Garden maze, is run by the mysterious Viola and is frequented by the King himself. Little by little, the noblewoman is let in on Viola’s great secret: her longing for her lost lover – the King’s wife.

The city tightens like a noose. The plague isn’t dying – it’s biding its time. Beneath cracked skin and whispered betrayals, violence festers. Summer doesn’t just burn – it promises to explode. And when it does, it won’t be mercy that decides who survives.

Told entirely through the perspective of a woman stripped of her voice but never her will, Loving is a hypnotic, brutal, and highly visceral tale of survival, seduction, and rebellion. With piercing prose and a feverish atmosphere, Amalie Langballe delivers a merciless exploration of the body as both prison and weapon.

Reviews

“If Karen Blixen had only been able to read Loving, she would have rejoiced in its pomp and splendour, its riddles and masquerade, but also in its harshness and seriousness, which are happily interrupted by moments of gentleness and by the possibility that Loving is also a love story.”
- Politiken

“Unsurpassably gifted and disgustingly beautiful.”
- Weekendavisen

“Amalie Langballe has with Loving written an exquisite novel about secrets, sex, and love in the time of plague.”
- Soundvenue