Anne Stauss

A lonely, divorced writer reflects on his life. Evander’s beautiful prose and sense of humour, which sometimes lighten up the tragic scenes, persuade the reader to have patience with the narcissistic ‘I’.

In her most recent book, Bodil Malmsten presents five plaintive, indignant and unhappy souls; five contemporary Swedes from various walks of life, imparting to us their glum observations on life and their tales of disillusionment and personal distress. 

Under cover of darkness, on the night train from Moscow to Helsinki, Ivan Demidov tells the story of his life to a virtual stranger. The listener, much like the author of this book, is a woman, a writer, a Russian living in Helsinki.