"Asle is an aging painter and widower who lives alone on the west coast of Norway. His only friends are his neighbor, ?sleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bj?rgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. Asle and Asle are doppelg?ngers--two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life"-- Provided by publisher.