Jack caught a glimpse of Ninni by the second gate and wondered if she had been looking for him. The thought made him smile.

She wasn’t alone. Jens leaned against the fence next to her. On the other side of the paddock, he saw Olav standing together with another, heavy-set man. ‘Who’s that?’

Petter smiled. ‘Oh, that’s Tobben. The third farmer on the island.’

Ninni hugged her dad. Petter waved a hand towards Jack. ‘Look who I found on the way.’

Jack smiled when Ninni nodded at him. ‘Nice to see you again,’ he said.

‘Takk for sist,’ Ninni said.

‘Sorry?’

‘It’s an expression to use whenever you meet someone again. It means thank you for the last time we saw each other. And you use it whether you haven’t seen a person in fifty years or in the last few hours. It’s a bit formal, like I wouldn’t say it to Pappa but I say it to people on the island when I’ve been gone for a while.’

‘Is that what they’ve just done?’ He nodded towards Jens and Petter. The men had greeted each other with a brisk hug and a hearty pat on the back. They were talking excitedly in Norwegian. Jack understood takk, but that was about it.

‘Yes, but right now Jens is complaining that Pappa only brought books for the kids.’

‘Why does he bring books?’ Jack took a step closer to her.

Ninni smelled good. Like cardamom and vanilla, he thought.

‘Pappa owns a bookshop in Bergen. He always brings the latest books with him for the islanders. During the summer, he sets up a book corner in the shop and tries to persuade me to sit there to sell all the surplus stuff from the bookshop nobody wants to buy.’

‘Which you mostly refuse, I guess,’ Jack said.

She shrugged. ‘I have a job. He also tries to get me to open a permanent bookshop here, and I keep telling him it’s a ridiculous plan. People either buy their books in town or online, or get them from the library.’

Jack found her obvious annoyance charming. ‘So,’ he said, ‘How is this potato thing going to happen?’

Ninni nodded towards the barn. ‘The field is behind there. They spent most of the morning trying to make an old harrow work, so they wouldn’t have to dig furrows.’

Jack watched the men heading towards the barn. ‘Where are they going?’

‘Looks like they’ve given up on modern machinery,’ Ninni said with a wide smile. ‘Just stay here with me and you won’t get a shovel in your hands. Those things are murder on the back.’

Jack had no intention of going anywhere without her.

A little girl came running towards them, grabbing Ninni’s hand and talking a mile a minute. Ninni smiled and nodded. ‘This is Jack. He doesn’t speak Norwegian, so this is your chance to show off your English, Anja,’ she said to the little girl.

Anja looked at him. ‘Hello,’ she said.