D.E. Hurford

Boy meets girl at a dance school. Boy becomes a prominent scientist, girl becomes one of the first women to gain a doctorate in chemistry. Who is the genius from Breslau in Lena Einhorn's latest novel?

A collection of six interconnected short stories by Danny Wattin. Sharp and entertaining.

Adrian Perera's first novel is a claustrophobic story in four languages and plays with the reader’s assumptions from the word go.

Although the refugee crisis was depicted by press and politicians as a crisis in Sweden, Banke’s book is a timely reminder that the asylum seekers are in fact the ones facing a crisis.

In a novel that alternates between Finland and Cameroon, Sara Razai explores race, class, religion and belonging.

Ann-Luise Bertell's debut is ‘A pocket-sized emigrant epic’

Not only is the main character a girl, but the novel looks at other aspects of Viking life, particularly religion, literacy and social distinctions.

In Latvia, however, many people are constantly told they are Russians – however long they’ve lived there.

At a staff meeting, discussing ways to tackle the persistent issue of shoplifting, a security guard suggests the store deal with the problem by making culprits wear a sign saying ‘I am a thief’.

Nattexpressen is an exciting story for children that opens up opportunities for conversations on a hard topic: how to talk about people who have changed or who are no longer themselves.

Alsterdal has been carving out a niche as a writer of page-turners with a political, international flavour.

The historical novel – often long, usually impressively researched – is very much alive.

Thunander lets the people she meets speak for themselves – much of the text is directly quoted dialogue.

‘The problem is the same everywhere: introducing democracy hurts.’

Greek has given us many words: democracy, philosophy, logic and poetry. Since the collapse of the country’s economy however, a newer, unhappier vocabulary has sprung up associated with Greece: words like troika, corruption, austerity.

Fagerholm does not tell a story as much as evoke a world.

The idea of a Swedish disaster story is interesting in itself. The Hollywood output of scare stories is mind-numbing, but something about setting this story in rural Sweden makes it more unsettling than the most imaginative zombie invasion; we expect the Swedish countryside to be safe and uneventful.

Authoritarianism, rhetoric and protest: scenes from daily life. Anna-Lena Laurén's The Velvet Dictatorship. Resistance and fellow-travellers in today’s Russia. is a highly readable collection of essays on contemporary Russia written by an expert in the area.

Travelling between Dimension Homesickness and Dimension Viking Line, Edith Hammar's Homo Line is a graphic novel about dislocation, gentrification, and a lesser-known aspect of wartime Helsinki.

Niklas Ekdal, like Stieg Larsson, has a background in journalism; and, like Larsson, he uses the thriller genre to criticise aspects of Sweden’s recent history.

The thoughts of Johan Kling's protagonist in this novel are far less meaningless than the talk of Habitat, house prices and holidays in Portugal which make up the conversations around him.

An unconventionally told story of childhood in which photography and aesthetics play a major part, Shade and Breeze is an elusive but absorbing debut novel.

The protagonist of Malte Persson's historical novel, like a more solemn and scientifically-inclined Mrs. Dalloway, is surrounded by interesting individuals with stories of their own.

This book brings together plays, short stories and columns by Jonas Hassen Khemiri. The result is linguistic experimentation at its funniest.

A curated list of recent gems in Swedish-language literary fiction, as reviewed in Swedish Book Review.

A curated list of compelling historical fiction, as reviewed in Swedish Book Review.

A curated list of thrilling page-turners to lose yourself in, as reviewed in Swedish Book Review.

A curated list of outstanding fiction for young adults, as reviewed in Swedish Book Review.

Lucid Dreams: A User’s Manual is a collection of stories spanning suburbia, science fiction, loneliness, violence and sheer horror from Johanna Holmström, a past master of uncomfortable writing.

A loosely autobiographical tale of touring musicians, anxiety, suicide and drug use, narrated in nail polish colours, Moa Romanova’s Off the Rails is an image-driven, witty and moving account of friendship.

A closer look at the development of strikes that homes in on different aspects of industrial conflict, Jesper Hamark’s Strike. From Dark Satanic Mills to the Gig Economy offers some interesting ideas on the trade unionism and capitalism of today.

A diverse collection of essays and other texts by the former permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, The Silk Cathedral and Other Texts delves into everything from photography to Svetlana Alexievich to Flaubert, always with a keen eye on style.

An in-depth and readable analysis of Russia and its leadership in the post-Soviet era, The Fallen Empire looks at the developments, events and rhetorical manoeuvres that led the country where it is today.

Best known for her poetry, Edith Södergran (1892 – 1923) also left a substantial body of photography. In Another Edith, award-winning book designer Nina Ulmaja analyses some of these photos and links them to Södergran’s biography – and her own.

In Ulla Donner’s The Natural Comedy a lost leaf, a jilted mushroom and a senile forest deity come together for an unusual road trip through a destroyed forest in a visually stunning, multi-layered tale of environmental destruction that references Dante’s Divine Comedy.

With its appealingly coloured tales of a group of twenty-something friends that shun strict realism for a more psychological take, Cecilia Vårhed’s graphic novel Empty Boasting has fun with the genre.

A curator’s eye tour of an art museum, The Maintenance Labyrinth, Ida Börjel’s dialogue in poem form is narrated with an eye for the details of objects and their conservation, as well as subtle humour.

A tense account of murder and deceit in remote forest against the backdrop of the pandemic, Johanna Holmström’s Wolf Cub keeps the reader guessing until the end.

How to mourn a death that was never talked about, without even a grave to visit? In Intertwining, Pia Mariana Raattamaa Visén articulates how loss affects three subsequent generations.

Cherry trees in blossom, a dead cat, the Pleiades and mourning. In When I Was Snow Ingela Strandberg’s poetry takes us on a journey through nature where death and life go hand in hand.