In a rudimentary two storey timber building in the picturesque country village of Evje, southern Norway, seven Russian women sit around a table struggling to make smalltalk with a balding Norwegian baker, the only male in their midst. And the women, who arrived a few days ago from Murmansk, St Petersburg and Tolliati in search of a Norwegian husband, are coming to terms with the language barrier for the first time. Only one of their group, Helena, a book-keeper from Murmansk, has even the tenderest grasp of English — none speak Norwegian — so nervously smoking cigarettes, they all thumb through various pocket dictionaries, resorting to sign language where necessary.