The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

Being non-fiction this is not my usual reading-for-pleasure choice, but a good friend gave it to me and I was intrigued.  I don’t have anything against biographies, and often enjoy them when I do read them, it just isn’t my natural preference.  And in essence this is an autobiography, albeit focusing on just the one year in the writer’s life.  But it isn’t just about her life, it is also filled with interesting research, facts, interviews and, of course, amusing anecdotes.

As you can tell from the title, Helen, a lifestyle journalist living in London, moves to Denmark and charts her experiences during the year, one chapter per month with a theme for each chapter.  As is to be expected, this book is full of cultural insights, language oddities and many faux pas made by Helen.

Helen speaks directly to the reader and is very frank and open about her feelings, intentions and mistakes.  Her journalistic training comes through both in the writing style and the content.  It reads like a good column or editorial piece and is very engaging and witty.  But it also has elements of investigative journalism, as she seeks to know and understand more about her discoveries.  The subtitle of the book is Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country and this is the central theme, providing a thread which runs throughout and ties all the interviews, facts and changing seasons together.  Helen is investigating why Danes are so happy, and so she asks everyone she encounters, and repeatedly asks herself and her husband, where they rank themselves on the happiness scale.

To aid her investigation, Helen does a great deal of research, from demographic to social to scientific, and it is all really interesting.  Being a freelance journalist she has the time and credentials to gain access to experts in various fields and mine data sources for relevant information.  No doubt sections of this book appear in various articles she was commissioned to write during this year - she is clearly repurposing her material and reshaping it into this book, but why not?  It works.

It could be argued there are too many facts and stats in this book, but I never found the information unnecessary or disconnected from the “story”.  They serve to illustrate and support Helen’s assertions and there are plenty of anecdotes and real-life occurrences to keep your interest.  If anything I sometimes found myself wishing for more information or explanations.  I liked the “Things I’ve learnt this month” summaries at the end of each chapter too.

Reading this book I have learnt so much about Denmark and been surprised by many of the revelations.  But this book also invites you to reflect on and reconsider life in England.  Helen inevitably makes comparisons between the two countries and cultures and there is a healthy questioning of which is preferable and what the sources of true happiness are.

As soon as I started reading this it reminded me of a similar book I read a few years ago, Tales of the Country by Brian Viner, about another journalist leaving London, this time for rural Herefordshire.  And I have decided I enjoy this sort of book.  Before I had even finished The Year of Living Danishly I realised that I wanted to know about the next year of Helen’s life.  And I also want other similar books – more journalists need to leave London for somewhere different and write about it please!