A luscious summer novel about friends, lovers, and friends' lovers

'Five friends, one cabin in the forest and a whole load of tension' Vogue

'Sun-soaked...playful and sensual' Dazed

Five friends from university; seven summer days in a lakeside cabin in Denmark. A chance to swim, sunbathe, flirt, read and recreate the magic of their youth.

At least that's what Sylvia had hoped. But then her friends arrive with real jobs, kids and partners. Worse, Esben (her decades-long crush) and Karen announce their plan to get married at the end of the week. As desire and anxiety swirl, and the wedding day approaches, will the group achieve their arcadian dreams or will everything come tumbling down?

*A BBC, Vogue and Esquire summer reading pick*

'Delicious and provocative' Esther Freud

'Clever, wry and incredibly sexy' Susannah Dickey

'Evocative... An enjoyable page-turner' Observer

'Trembles and flashes with hot emotion, confusion and pangs of longing' Amy Key

'A beautiful and sensuous book that stayed with me' Daily Mail

Linea Maja Ernst (Author)
Linea Maja Ernst is a staff writer at the Danish newspaper Weekendavisen, where she writes about literature, pop culture and private life. Waist Deep is her debut novel and was an instant bestseller on first publication in Denmark in 2024.

Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg (Translator)
Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg is a writer and literary translator based in Copenhagen. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker and the Paris Review, among other places, and her translation of Jonas Eika's After the Sun from the Danish was longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley.