Reviews

Henning Mankell’s novel is a fascinating and intriguing murder mystery. But it is also much more than that.

The five knives become the leitmotif of Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo's novel. One of these knives, which have ornately decorated handles, is carried in a rather unusual place: its blade is tucked into a hymn book which is, in turn, tucked down the back of the young woman’s trousers, causing abrasions on her back.

Peter Birro mixes Strindberg’s own works with a biographical account.

Seasoned author Peter Kihlgård is bidding for our attention with an experiment in form.

Göran Sahlberg's exuberant yet wistful novel with its vivid, tragic-comic account of a very unusual childhood evokes an era when Sweden felt it stood centre-stage in the world.

Lise Indahl's first novel for young readers is much more than the ghost story it seems at first to be, as the mysteries that unfold all have their explanations in the concrete world and raise serious questions about social reality in contemporary Sweden.

The reader is drawn in by Lars Norén’s warts-and-all portrayal of a sensitive but self-centred artist battling with depression and a mid-life crisis.

Mikael Timm's portrait of Ingmar Bergman through his work.

Hans Gunnarsson is one of the best chroniclers of contemporary life in Sweden.

Ernst Brunner's novel documents the planning, execution and aftermath of a thrilling art raid.

Åsa Linderborg's autobiographical work has been hailed as a classic of the growing-up genre so central to Sweden’s literary canon.

Jerker Virdborg’s novel might better be called a reading experience, written by a cinematographer.

Inger Edelfeldt combines her fascination with fantasy with a serious concern for the psychological and social pressures of the teenage years.

Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s second full-length novel is aimed exclusively at the internet generation.

Agneta Pleijel's historical fiction demonstrates elegantly how history can aid maturity through observing and identifying with the humanity of shadowy figures from the past.

Tim Davys’s first book is about Mafia pressure on soft toys.

Katarina Mazetti is well known in Sweden for her humorous novels and short stories. Her fiction is hilarious, often bordering on the farcical.

Lena Andersson has written a diabolical satire about cravings, mass paranoia and mechanisms of control in a society that calls itself democratic.