Reviews

In Mia Franck's Gallantry, four young friends find a novel way around some of the restrictions faced by women in Helsinki in 1912.

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.

In Maria Hellbom’s many-layered, enchanting children’s fantasy novels, two pre-teen protagonists team up with age-old, local mythical creatures and animals in order to save their rural community, its people, forests and animals from fire and exploitation.

In Half of Malmö’s Men Have Dumped Me, Amanda Romare takes the reader on a Mr Toad’s wild ride of sex, laughs and disappointment.

In They’re Taking Everything Away from Me, An intense YA novel set in Northern Sweden, Linda Jones describes Frida, a fifteen-year-old coming of age in a community that is falling apart.

In Lotta Geffenblad’s life-affirming and humorous picturebooks about the lovably odd couple Tora and Tytte, size does not matter if you care for one another. Together the couple explores everyday chores with unexpected, hilarious results and a deep sense of the small pleasures of everyday life.

The Story of Bodri is a simple introduction to the Holocaust for young children, told from the perspective of a girl and her beloved dog.

Nominated for 2023 Nordic Council Literature Prize, A Book For Nobody surprises and delights thanks to Isabella Nilsson’s playful approach to writing about difficult topics.

Inger Edelfeldt's Scheherazade-like sequence for today’s fantasy fans weaves an unsettling tale of suppression of freedom in multiple worlds and provides a pithy commentary on the mechanics of storytelling in the process.

Mao’s Hibiscus is a story of a decades’ long friendship between former Maoists, cemented by the obligation to look after a suitcase of money. They eventually invest the money, but their investment has fatal consequences, and everything points to the involvement of the Russian secret services.

In Maria Hellbom’s many-layered, enchanting children’s fantasy novels, two pre-teen protagonists team up with age-old, local mythical creatures and animals in order to save their rural community, its people, forests and animals from fire and exploitation.

This picture book by Annica Hedin takes an innovative approach to exploring knotty moral issues for very young children, aged 3-6 years. It begins with a question – what do we do in secret which we know is wrong, and what happens if somebody notices?

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.

Stylistically breathtaking, Maxim Grigoriev’s The Rain is a hypnotic ode to a city being hollowed by gentrification, as told through the fragmented conversations of a young group of residents.

Sara Gordan’s The Night was received with unanimous, overwhelmingly warm praise for her unique style of novelistic autobiography that focuses on a troubled, loving parenthood.

A Crate of Oranges tells the moving real-life story of a Jewish boy and his father forced by persecution to emigrate from Communist Poland.

Johanna Frid´s novel Harald’s Mother charts a difficult relationship between a mother and her daughter-in-law. It is a funny but at the same time deeply poignant take on love, family and relationships. A perfect read for book club discussions.

In Lotta Geffenblad’s life-affirming and humorous picturebooks about the lovably odd couple Tora and Tytte, size does not matter if you care for one another. Together the couple explores everyday chores with unexpected, hilarious results and a deep sense of the small pleasures of everyday life.