Which is a lesson also learned by the characters in the novel, who are undermined by the things that mean the most to them: a son abandoned by his mother a sister disowned by her twin brother a workaholic swindled by his company a gamer. The moral of the story seemed to me something like: the things you love the most can sometimes hurt you worst. Throw in some sexual abuse, drugs and damaged psyches and you have yourself a ready-to-read tome that aligns with the popular literature heroes of the age. They must have loved it, until they realized what was really happening, by which time it was too late. It has all the hallmarks: a screwed up family, historical events and a narrative timeline that bobs and weaves through the span of the book. And I imagined that, for the kids, suddenly taking possession of their very own horse would have been the coolest thing that ever happened to them. It will attempt to lure the children onto its back, and if they climb aboard, it'll gallop into the water and drown them. In the Norwegian version, a Nix is usually described as a horrible ugly ogre-type thing that sometimes appears to young children as a beautiful white horse. I love those old ghost stories, where spirits appear incognito and cause all sorts of trouble.

It's one of many Norwegian folktales I use in the novel. Knopf, 27.95 (640p) ISBN 978-1-9 Hill’s first novel offers an ironic view of 21st-century elections, education, pop culture, and marketing, with flashbacks. What is the story of The Nix and how does it inform this novel?Ī Nix is a spirit of the water that appears in Scandinavian folklore and is variously known as a nixie, neck, nikker, nøkk, and so on.

Interview Nathan Hill discusses his debut book, The Nix, and how video games influence the book - and his life.

The Nix by Nathan Hill