Janny Middelbeek-Oortgiesen

The boy is not her son, and she calls him ‘my boy’ because ‘she took him’ and ‘because he was in my power’.

Agnes Lidbeck creates a layered protagonist whose passivity is actually an active choice. The title, which means ‘to comply’, but also ‘to find oneself’, neatly captures these aspects of the protagonist.

A particular strength is his description of how someone in a crisis observes small and seemingly unimportant details and clings to them, to protect himself or herself against a greater evil.

It was with good reason that the publisher decided to send a copy of the novel to the leaders of all the Swedish political parties.

Nordenhök writes with a very sensual and poetic pen that reveals layer after layer of what went on in a family living in pre-war Indonesia.

She discovers that there is blood on her dress, but she is having her period, so perhaps that is the reason? Still, she hides the dress in her closet. The bodies of her parents are found, and she is arrested.

‘I was Händel. I am nobody. This is my tale of immortality and beauty.’

An original and humorous novel capturing not only quintessentially Swedish, but also very western phenomena of modern life.

Grips you by the throat, a great novel that tells you something about la condition humaine – and also a very Swedish one, with links to writers like Vilhelm Moberg and Harry Martinson.

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

A curated list of recent highlights in narrative non-fiction, as reviewed in Swedish Book Review.