Reviews

Öland: ‘A place where a chilly, salty taste forms a membrane, coating and soothing ever-open wounds which will always struggle to heal’.

There are different ways to write about the Holocaust.

A provocative retelling of Roland Paulsen’s study of Sweden’s Public Employment Service.

As in Alejandro Almenábar’s 2001 film ‘The Others’, the encounters with the dead challenge and unsettle our perception of reality.

Nothing is what it seems in Edenborg’s counterfactual historical romance.

The thriller lives!

Readers will surely ponder these perceptive, thought-provoking essays long afterwards.

A comic book with kidnappings, changelings, fortunes sought and happy homecomings.

The setting, the ‘Indian village’ – a nickname for the flats belonging to the local Volvo factory – symbolises the democratic dream of providing a decent life for all workers. But the dream of equality is trashed by the brokenness of those who live there today.

Kristina Sandberg’s monumental trilogy about Maj Berglund, a housewife from the small town of Örnsköldsvik, is a tour de force.

We have two different parents: one called Yeltsin, the other Putin.

Saga is a strong female character; it’s a delight to read a novel about a teenage girl who finds her own way and isn’t afraid of being different.

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

Sem-Sandberg is a masterly analyst who has chosen to present his observations in fiction rather than in historical works.

A modern-day, working-class Swedish Miss Marple.

This book will appeal to those looking for an unusual retelling of a world classic, this time by two children playing ‘Let’s Pretend’.

When Emilia finally ‘comes home’, little of what she remembers still stands in the new Euro-Poland. What was that past of hers – a dream?

Beckomberga Hospital was once Europe’s largest mental institution.