It’s the birthday of Danish author Peter Høeg (1957), best known for his internationally bestselling thriller Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1992, film adaptation 1997) and for his somewhat recluse behavior.

Høeg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and educated at the University of Copenhagen, where he earned a master’s in lit in 1984. His first novel, The History of Danish Dreams (1988), was a success; it was followed by a short story collection, Tales of the Night (1990), and Smilla’s Sense of Snow, which tells the story of Smilla Jaspersen as she investigates the death of a young neighbor boy. Smilla is a scientist and native of Greenland (half Greenland Inuit) transplanted to Denmark, and she draws on her vast experience with various types of snow to conclude that the boy’s fall off the roof is not an accident. The book delves into Danish post-colonialism and a conspiracy that Smilla uncovers.

The novel was a huge success and translated into 17 languages; Høeg, already a private person, became even more so. His next novel, Borderliners (1993), won The Golden Laurel and also the Danish Critics Prize for Literature. His 1996 novel, The Woman and the Ape, was less well-received, and Høeg was all but reclusive for 10 years before publishing The Quiet Girl (2006), a thriller in which a famous but floundering circus clown obsessed with Bach joins forces with an order of nuns protecting children with mystical abilities and ends up searching for one of the children who goes missing. (I did not make any of that up. But thank you for thinking I could.) The novel was heavily criticized for being “too complex or too postmodern.” Høeg himself said of this reaction, “I know it was a difficult book, but the amount of information you have to process to understand the first of the Matrix films or Memento or Inception… my book is nothing compared to that.” (See the interview here.)

Høeg’s next novel, The Elephant Keeper’s Children (2010), was much more warmly received, the novel itself being a warmer, funnier, and generally more delightful adventure story. His latest novel is the high-concept thriller The Susan Effect (2014), about a woman whose unusual ability to ferret out secrets threatens to land her in prison until she agrees to hunt for the details of a mysterious report prepared by a secret government think tank. Also, no clowns.

Høeg is divorced (I think) and has four children (so I’ve heard) and lives in Jutland (probably).

Have exactly as reclusive or sociable a Friday as you wish and stay scrupulously honest to the data.