Norman Ollestad – författare

“Breathtaking....Crazy for the Storm will keep you up late into the night.”—Washington Post Book World

Norman Olstead’s New York Times bestselling memoir Crazy for the Storm is the story of the harrowing plane crash the author miraculously survived at age eleven, framed by the moving tale of his complicated relationship with his charismatic, adrenaline-addicted father. Destined to stand with other classic true stories of man against nature—Into Thin Air and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer; Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm—it is a literary triumph that novelist Russell Banks (Affliction) calls, “A heart-stopping story beautifully told….Norman Olstead has written a book that may well be read for generations.”

A riveting survival adventure like Hatchet but real, this astounding true story from two New York Times–bestselling authors chronicles how a California sixth grader survived a deadly mountainside plane crash during a snowstorm.Eleven-year-old Norman Ollestad is no stranger to extreme danger. Whether it’s surfing big swells off Topanga Beach or skiing in a blizzard, his thrill-seeking father hurls him from one adrenaline rush to another, pushing his son to realize that “anything’s possible.” And with Dad by his side, sometimes Norman believes him.That motto is put to the ultimate test when, en route to claim a race trophy Norman won the day before, the sketchy small plane they’ve chartered crashes in the San Gabriel Mountains during a snowstorm, killing the pilot and his father—the one person Norman has always counted on for help and encouragement—and badly injuring his dad’s girlfriend. Trapped six thousand feet above sea level, Norman is left to contend with his grief and with his dire circumstances. Should he wait for help and hope rescue arrives before hypothermia sets in, or brave the brutal cold and have a shot at making it out alive?But scaling down a steep, ice-covered peak is unlike any challenge Norman has faced before. One mistake could be the difference between another step toward safety and a very long fall.Inspired by the harrowing true experience of New York Times–bestselling author Norman Ollestad, this astonishing, action-packed survival story, co-written with New York Times–bestselling author Brendan Kiely, is about the complicated forces—and people—that shape us. Fast-paced and unputdownable, Sole Survivor is the perfect read for fans of Dusti Bowling’s The Canyon’s Edge, Megan E. Freeman’s Alone, and the I Survived series.

French Girl with Mother is a provocative, propulsive thriller that marries the spirit of James Salter with a hint of Patricia Highsmith and the velocity of The Art Forger.

Nathan is a young artist traveling across Europe in search of the emotional fire that has been missing from his work. He’s been deemed by his mentors and critics to be technically skillful but uninspired—criticisms he fears to be true. On a Paris street, he witnesses the volatile breakup of a young French woman and her beau. Nathan pursues a meeting with the woman, and it very quickly becomes evident that her provocative charisma and scathing beauty just may conjure the electricity he has been seeking for his work. So when the woman invites him to her parents’ crumbling, centuries-old chateau in the country to allow him to sketch her, he accepts, knowing that this proposition is both ill advised and thrilling.

Once enveloped by this isolated estate, a door opens to a world for which Nathan is not prepared—a world heralded by the arrival of the young woman’s family: her mother, a volatile, voracious former ballerina; her father, a mysterious businessman with secrets of his own; and her uncle, who might be trafficking in art forgeries.