Mikael Niemi

A skilled wordsmith and nature writer, Niemi juxtaposes lyrical pastoral beauty with the grotesque and the hideous. He is able to enchant, lull and repulse in equal measure. This is writing that will make you think.

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.

Disaster strikes in the far north of Sweden. How will the people react?
Translated by Laurie Thompson

Mikael Niemi's take on the YA novel is full of humour, often black.

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

Mikael Niemi takes a genre and plays with it.