NORSTEDTs ageNcy

NORSTEDTs
ageNcy
SPRING 2015
Fiction
fiction
Mikael Bergstrand
Mikael Bergstrand is a journalist and au­thor
from Malmö, in the south of Sweden. In
2007 he moved to India, and lived in New
Delhi for almost four years, sharing his
time between travelling and writing. Since 2011 he lives in Sweden again, but still
travels frequently to India.
In 2011, Mikael Bergstrand got his big
breakthrough with Delhis vackraste händer, which has been sold to nine countries
so far and will soon become a television
series. The books about Göran and Yogi
have sold more than 200 000 copies to date.
Delhis vackraste händer
The Most Beautiful Hands in Delhi
September 2011, 329 pages
Senior Editor: Susanna Romanus
Extensive summary and sample translation in English
available, as well as a full German translation
Göran Borg, a middle-aged Swedish man, meets the bustling
and colourful life in India and encounters unexpected passion
and life-long friendship where he least expected to find it. Mikael Bergstrand describes this meeting with warmth and with a
large portion of humour.
Dimma över Darjeeling
Darjeeling Mist
August 2013, 395 pages
Senior Editor: Susanna Romanus
The Guru in the Pomona Valley
Finally, Yogi and Lakshmi have married! And
after the grand South Indian wedding, and the
start of an exciting honeymoon, Göran Borg
packs his bags and returns to his hometown
Malmö. He is still out of work, he’s drinking a
bit too much and his new relationship is much
more complicated than he thought and hoped it
would be.
When Yogi suddenly shows up in Malmö all
ingrained notions and patterns are thrown
over. Together they head out to the Pomona
Valley in picturesque Österlen, to tend to a
house for the summer. Yogi is amazed by all
the curious Swedes, their traditions and peculiarities, and he soon become very popular not least thanks to his big heart and open
mind. The house is filled by all sorts of truth
seekers and the the local paper writes an appreciative report about the charismatic In-
dian guru and his popular gatherings. But of
course there are people in the neighborhood
who doesn’t appreciate Indian wisdom, tea
drinking and yoga sessions.
Gurun i Pomonadalen is the third and final
instalment in Mikael Bergstrand’s series
about BFFs Göran and Yogi. It is a novel
about Swedish eccentricities, the search of
one’s true self, and the ability to love oneself,
as well as others. It is written with the same
sense of warm humour that has given Delhis
vackraste händer and Dimma över Darjeeling
so many readers.
Once again we taken on an adventure with Göran Borg and Yogendra ‘Yogi’ Singh Thakur, this time from the bustling Delhi
life to the mist-clad mountains of Darjeeling. Yogi has met the
love of his life, but will fate intervene in their plans to marry?
Gurun i Pomonadalen
The Guru in the Pomona Valley
May 2015, 375 pages
Senior Editor: Susanna Romanus
The third and final instalment in Mikael Bergstrand’s popular
series about Göran and Yogi – this time their adventure takes
place in Sweden!
“Great feel good” Sydsvenskan
“Humorous, well told novel about cultural
clashes” Bogvægten (DK)
Rights sold to: Modtryk, Denmark • Bazar, Finland • Bruna,
the Netherlands • Gaïa, France • Piemme, Italy • Alfaguara,
Spain • btb, Germany • Moonhak Soochup, South Korea
continued >
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Fiction
fiction
Bli som folk
Beasts and Other Stories
Stina Stoor
Stina Stoor (born in 1982) has roots in no
less than three of our Nordic minorities,
the indigenous Sami, the Swedish speakers
on the Finnish coast and the Meänkieli
speakers as well as roots from northern
settlers.
by Stina Stoor
August 2015, 166 pages
Senior Editor: Håkan Bravinger
Sample translation in English available
She lives with her Sami husband and
two small children in her great-greatgrandfather’s old house, tending to the
inherited forest. Unlike most in her generation she has chosen to live and work
in the sparsely populated area of northern
Sweden.
Awarded the Umeå Short Story Prize 2012 and
Swedish Radio’s Short Story Prize in 2013.
Beasts and Other Stories
“The sun shines in all the squash glasses making
all the squash sparkle. Rubies, red campion, rowan! Kind of like that. Like magic! And Party
Mum carefully slices the cake so that Sandra’s
bit comes out beautiful and very large, almost
scandalous, and it stands up in the middle of
a flowery plate. The other children get creamclogged spoons on the tablecloth but Party Mum
is so kind she doesn’t even say anything about
it. /.../ On the way home when Sandra leans
back in her seat she feels that crown on her head
and a slender elastic band under her chin. The
crown is made of thick paper, golden on the outside and white inside. A kind of toy. She takes
it off and leaves it there. Among the ice cream
wrappers, pools coupons and wadding.
She asks:
‘Can I drive?’
And Dad replies:
‘Later.’
Because she hardly ever gets to, out on the big
road:
‘Later Sandra, when we’re more closer to home.’”
Bli som folk consists of nine short stories, all
set in the border districts of Västerbotten
and Ångermanland, in northern Sweden.
But also in the border area of present and
past, and of childhood and adultness. Girls
trying to become women, boys having to become men. And then there are the mysteries
of nature.
Bli som folk is rich in detail as well as in suggestive images of a Västerbotten in change.
Stina Stoor moves along paths already trod
upon by great writers, but she brings us – in
this unique debut – to places where we have
never set foot before.
Press voices for the short story Odjura/Beasts:
“The perforation between saga and realism
brings the Moominvalley to mind, and the
stifled implicit pain is superbly dealt with
/…/ An author to keep a close eye on!”
Hallandsposten
“the short story seized me. What a language,
what a storyteller! Purely addictive!”
Sydsvenskan
“Stina Stoor succeeds well in creating the
strong, summer warm sense of presence, but
she also weaves in threads that lead somewhere else, sentences that complicate the
story and make the world behind it much
bigger. Through it, one senses that there is
a background to everything /…/ This makes
the taste and smell and sense of this world
much stronger while reading, and it also makes it bittersweet: not knowing what it consists of. It is a really fine short story.”
Dagens bok
continued >
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Fiction
fiction
Spådomen
The Prophecy
Agneta Pleijel
by Agneta Pleijel
April 2015, 262 pages
Senior Editor: Eva Gedin
One of Sweden’s most prominent authors writes her
memoirs.
Agneta Pleijel was born in Stockholm in
1940. She has worked as a critic and cultural editor of various Swedish newspapers
and magazines. Between 1987 and 1990 she
was President of the Swedish PEN, and
since 1988 she is a member of the academy
Samfundet De nio. Between 1992 and 1996
Agneta Pleijel was Professor at the Institute of Drama in Stockholm.
Apart from being one of Sweden’s formost writers, she is also a playwright and a
poet. Her books have been translated into
more than 20 languages.
The Prophecy
A prophecy is received by a beloved aunt, a pro­
phecy that the girl eagerly awaits to see fulfilled.
She believes in the miracle, the magic and
the transformation.
In an open-hearted and pregnant recollection, Agneta Pleijel writes her memoirs
about a young girl who once was her.
The story takes place in the suburbs of
Stockholm, in the university town of Lund
and in the USA. It is a tale both painful and
humorous about the search for truth, morality, and a place of your own in the world.
Agneta Pleijel writes about a time gone by,
but the story about a girl growing into womanhood is ageless.
The childhood is dominated by geographical
movements. The girl is engaged in reading –
the books give words to the vagueness of existence – and she’s also busy thinking about
the female sex, family and the stupendous
diversity of people. Her dad, the mathematician, and her mum, the musician, are very
different from each other. They are in conflict with each other, and she loves them
both.
Review date: April 20, 2015
Slowly she realizes that she’s grown up in a
lie. She must guard herself carefully. Protect
herself and her two younger sisters and tread
gently through the war zone that her parents’ marriage is increasingly turning into.
Press voices for previous works:
“This book deserves thunderous applause
and a nomination for the August Prize.”
Expressen
“As for Pleijel’s prose, you simply cannot
find anything more fervent, and tender anywhere…”
Västerbottens Kuriren
“Agneta Pleijel has a unique talent for descri- “Agneta Pleijel is one of Swedish literature’s
bing an oppressive system in a way that gives most excellent authors”
you the shivers – but opens your eyes at the Upsala Nya Tidning
same time.”
Skånskan
“I think that Pleijel could write almost any
kind of book and that it still would be a plea“As always, her texts carry it off with their sure to read it.”
perfect and beautiful prose. She has the Tidningen Vi
ability to capture the ideas of the time, the
climate of thinking. Agneta Pleijel could “Pleijel writes so well that I shiver with pleaprobably write about anything, she is quite sure . What a knowledge of human nature! ”
simply such a skilful storyteller.”
Expressen
Norrköpings Tidningar
“a song of praise to the riches of art and language, and it is done by the hand of a master…”
Uppsala Nya Tidning
continued >
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Fiction
fiction
Norrut åker man för att dö
You Travel North to Die
by Ida Linde
September 2014, 282 pages
Senior Editor: Håkan Bravinger
Sample translation in English available
Violent and striking about passion and crime.
Ida Linde
Ida Linde was born in 1980, grew up in
Umeå but now lives in Stockholm. She debuted in 2006 with the poetic prose novel
Maskinflickans testamente.
Her latest novel En kärleksförklaring was
published in 2011. The same year, Ida Linde
was awarded a scholarship from the Albert
Bonner’s Scholarship Fund.
You Travel North to Die
The story is set in Västerbotten in northern Sweden. Sara and Benjamin have just met and are
now traveling around in an old Volvo. At a gas
station they shoot the cashier. The boy becomes
the first victim of their murderous rampage.
Lávra cleans and Karim works in the kitchen
at Hotel Skellet when the police appear, chasing the murderer. They know who they’re
looking for. Andreas must leave his beloved
Slavoj and travel home to bury his little brother.
Norrut åker man för att dö might be a novel about a crime, but not the one you first
think of. It might be a novel about Västerbotten and about what we inherit and how
this influences us. It might also be a translation of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. Then
again, Ida Linde’s new novel might simply be
a place for terror and fear to reign freely.
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Press voices:
“Numbingly beautiful imagery /…/You have­
to take in this entire amazingly sharp and
beautiful imagery about Norrland as a victim and about the sorrow that confirms the
invisible ties between humans. The exceptionally brutal violence is just a pretext.”
Nya Wermlands-Tidningen
“The first chapter is so astounding that I have
to read it twice in one sitting. What frenzy!
And then it’s so bizarre, so twisted, that it for lack of a better comparison – feels like
you have ended up in a David Lynch movie.
/…/ Ida Linde steps right into the vulnerable reader’s heart with a thriller so black and
hard-boiled that a Raymond Chandler book
seem like soft ice cream with warm caramel
sauce in comparison. Then afterward, a series
of tales in the wake of Sarah’s and Benjamin’s
rampage. These human fates, in the inland
and coastal towns of Västerbotten, have all
been affected and will all be affected by what
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they have done. The thrill is gone, darkness
and tension remain. /…/ Using small recurring details and repeated formulations, Linde
stiches her novel together seamlessly. Each
and every one of the lives that she creates
takes our breath away and leaves a distinct
mark on our chest. Norrut åker man för att
dö is nothing less than a magnificent novel.”
Svenska Dagbladet
“Ida Linde explores the question about collective responsibility in a new, exciting and
believable way. It is my guess that Norrut åker
man för att dö will be one of the important
novels in 2014.”
Värmlands Folkblad
“And poets certainly know how to tell a story. Ida Linde, who grew up in Umeå, brings
freedom and focus from her poetry to her
novel construction. This is a very political
and psychological novel about Norrland,
where some rather shabby heroes get to po-
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pulate this wide, exploited and later forgotten land of snow and forests. /…/ No, this is
not just a novel about Norrland. It might be a
book about how death informs life. Perhaps
a book about choosing.”
Ljusdals-Posten
“Ida Linde has written an extremely focused
novel that’s held together with a steady hand
without ever becoming over-explicit. /…/
Reading Ida Linde’s latest novel is both exciting and painful. There is a darkness that’s
difficult to defend yourself against, but at the
same time, the language is so well composed
and sparkling that it makes me happy. You
kind of read with your entire self, not just
your eyes but your ears, heart, intellect and
nerves. In short, it’s one of the best books I
have read in a long time.”
Borås Tidning
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Fiction
fiction
Innan vi faller
Just Before We Fall
Håkan Bravinger
Rights sold to: Btb, Germany
Håkan Bravinger, born in 1968, debuted
in 1999 with his poetry collection Som om
det här var världen. He attended Literary
Composition in Göteborg and has been
the international secretary of The Swedish Writer’s Union. He now works as a
senior editor at Norstedts.
A low key page-turner about chance occurrences and
the quest to be loved.
In 2008 he published the well-received
novel Bära bud/My Brother, My Enemy,
which is sold to four countries.
by Håkan Bravinger
September 2014, 352 pages
Senior Editor: Helene Atterling, Wahlström & Widstrand
Sample translation in English available
Just Before We fall
Theirs is a completely ordinary family: Bengt,
a psychiatrist, Mariette, a teacher and their seventeen-year-old son Erik. When Bengt travels
to a conference in Cape Town he switches seats
on the plane with an unknown man and they begin an unexpectedly intimate conversation.
These trivial circumstances set off an unexpected chain of events in which the man
starts taking over Bengt’s wife and son while
he’s gone. What is the man’s motivation? Is
the Sund family as harmonious as it seems
on the surface? Who betrays whom?
Innan vi faller is a dense, seething family
drama about vanity, lost illusions, mid-life
crises – and a longing for somebody to love.
Perhaps there is a way back for a family who,
after all these years together, has gotten lost.
But the question is – is the unknown man a
threatening intruder or a savior?
Press voices:
“The book’s introduction is such a powerful
starting point that I forget to breathe and I
see the hot air balloon in Ian McEwan’s masterpiece Enduring Love in the rearview mirror for a long while. The craftsmanship and
the tension in the introductory pages here
are of the same parity. / .../ I am taken and
staggered by this year’s best book. ”
Helsingborgs Dagblad
“Composition wise Bravinger is practically
perfect, and the prose is downright enviable.
/…/ This is prose art.”
Expressen
“Håkan Bravinger could have made this a
straight forward thriller. Instead he has raised the stakes and creates anxiety through
delaying the crucial episodes. Every spontaneous line has been weighed, every gesture scrutinized. The well calculated effect
is something that resembles the trembling
strings in old horror movies, the signal that character from the outside as well. The story
uncovers and dissects some of the most insensitive viewers should close their eyes.”
tricate mechanisms of the human psyche.”
Dagens Nyheter
Kristianstadsbladet
Press voices for Bära bud:
“Bravo Bravinger! That’s what you want to “Bära Bud is an extraordinarily powerful
exclaim when you’ve read Håkan Bravinger’s and captivating novel. Bravinger dishes up a
enthusiastically written and often psycholo- frightening array of psychological in-sights.”
gically astute semi-documentary novel Bära Tidningen Kulturen
bud.”
Svenska Dagbladet
“Bära Bud skilfully draws the reader into a
number of fundamental questions about the
“Without knowing what the future may human condition. The novel is master-fully
bring, I am willing to predict that Bära Bud designed and executed.”
will be one of the spring’s most talked-about Norrköpings Tidningar
novels, particularly for its lyrical, suggestive
“Håkan Bravinger’s masterful family saga
style.”
Dala-Demokraten
about the brothers Poul and Andreas Bjerre
is a moving apology for life in all its convulsi“Rarely has an author given us such an adroit ve power against the suff ocation of timidity
portrayal of psychopathological behaviour and circumspection.”
as seen from the inside. The reader gains a Dagens Nyheter
three-dimensional perspective, watching the
continued >
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The Maj Trilogy
“Kristina Sandberg has written an impressive
trilogy that lends its voice to a story about
a marginalized majority. It is strong and insistent and moving. /.../The dual narrative is
particularly well suited to address questions
about then and now. They are never over
simplified, nor are they easily answered because they are not simple questions. All the
more important to keep them alive.”
Svenska Dagbladet
“It is a marvelous read. /…/ I have already
written that Kristina Sandberg has created,
with her earlier books, a unique, marvelous
housewife elegy. And it cannot be praised
enough, for its amazing insights, its astuteness and its understanding. Maj’s world – a
dirge that quietly fades away in the third novel. Sandberg provides a unique female perspective of a 20th century that went by with
furious changes.” Arbetarbladet
“Liv till varje pris has enormous energy and
vitality. Sandberg elegantly utilizes – and
twists and turns – some of the genre’s more
overused tools to create something else, something new, and in addition, something
uniquely personal. She has her own voice,
a unique literary tone. It is even more noticeable and convincing in this new novel. The
trilogy is not only one of the most arresting
and intimate women’s portraits written in
recent times.” Helsingborgs Dagblad
“Kristina Sandberg’s trilogy about Maj is a
series of books that should, both literarily
and when it comes to the topic, get more attention than that other person… what’s his
name again… Knausgård. Maj’s struggle is so
ridiculously more interesting to me and my
sisters. Sorry, Karl Ove.” Borås Tidning
“This generation raised today’s people, and
those who follow behind need to read Sandberg if they want to understand why Maj’s
home is still such a loaded political and feminist scene. And why Kristina Sandberg must
get the August Prize this fall.”
Dagens Nyheter
“Bringing the housewife’s story out of oblivious is a magnificent project, but it is even
more magnificent that she allows it to remain
a paradox. As a reader I admire and feel sorry
for Maj in the same breath.” Tidningen Vi
“Kristina Sandberg’s final installation in
the trilogy about the housewife Maj from
Örnsköldsvik is as well written as the earlier books, as dense and suggestive. And the
angst is so heavy that the lines almost give
way.” Fokus
Kristina Sandberg
Kristina Sandberg was born in 1971 and grew up in Sundsvall in the north of Sweden. She
lives in Stockholm and she made her literary debut in 1997.
In 2010, Norstedts published the first instalment in Sandberg’s trilogy about housewife Maj
– Att föda ett barn/Giving Birth. It was followed in succession by equally acclaimed Sörja för
de sina/Care for Ones Own in 2012, and Liv till varje pris/Life at Any Cost in 2014 – for which
she was awarded the finest national literary award: The August Prize for Best Fiction 2014.
The Maj Trilogy has so far sold more than 107 ooo copies in Sweden.
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The Millennium Series Continues
Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series:
• More than 80 Million copies sold
• 50 publishers world-wide
• Film adaptations made by Yellow Bird and Columbia Pictures
David Lagercrantz Det som inte dödar oss (Millennium 4)
• The anticipated return of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist
• Publication date 27 August 2015 (10 year anniversary of the M1 publication)
• Simultaneous publication in 20 countries
Five Questions to
David Lagercrantz
What made you accept the proposal to write
Millennium 4? I couldn’t resist it. Since the
Zlatan book I have received a steady stream
of book offers but I haven’t really got hooked
on any of those. When this idea was first presented to me, and I had recovered from the
initial chock, I couldn’t wait to get started.
I can’t even remember the last time I felt
so psyched before - psyched and terrified I
might add.
What has been the most difficult and the most
fun? Building the plot has been the most difficult. Stieg Larsson was a master at creating
a complex narrative with many parallel stories and that was something I wanted to live
up to. On the other hand that was also the
part that was most enjoyable. To push the
story along and feel the details fall into place
has been great fun.
What do you think characterizes Stieg Larssson’s
style? His style is matter of fact and down to
earth, but there is also something journalistically authoritative about it. I understood
early on that it would be pathetic if I tried
to imitate him. I write my own prose but I
still try to assume a similar efficiency in the
language.
What do you think you can add, writing the continuation? I can bring my interest in science
for example, and my knowledge of the media
world. Just like Stieg Larsson was, I am constantly interested in learning new things. I
have got help from hackers, mathematicians
and I have made extensive research on old
symbols and code words.
Will we recognize the characters from Stieg
Larsson’s books? Oh yes, there is Mikael
Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander of course.
And Erika Berger, detective inspector (chief
inspector these days) Jan Bublanski and his
closest associate Sonja Modig. There is the
hopeless police man Hans Faste, the zealous
careerist public prosecutor Richard Ekström,
the upright Holger Palmgren, Plague in the
Hacker republic and many more.
norstedts agency
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Suspense
suspense
Den första lögnen
The First Lie
Sara Larsson
by Sara Larsson
January 2015, 395 pages
Senior Editor: Susanna Romanus
Sample translation and synopsis in English available
Sara Larsson was born in 1973, and lives
in Stockholm. She is a qualified civil engineer but has also studied journalism and
law. Today she works as a consultant in the
public sector.
Den första lögnen is her debut novel.
Praised debut about the ever-current and uncomfortable topic concerning sexual violence against women.
The First Lie
It is the summer of 1997, in Visby on Gotland.
16-year-old Josefin wakes in great pain all over,
she’s naked and confused. Last night, she and
her best friend Camilla had gone to party with
three older guys from school. She had flirted,
they had had fun, but then the images turn dim.
Thailand 2010. Oskar, a successful athlete, is
vacationing with his wife and two children.
On the surface idyllic, but Oskar is more interested in bars and nightlife than in his family.
After one particularly wet evening, Oskar
wakes up in a dirty shed, disoriented and in
need of a doctor. He had left with a woman
from the bar for a ’little fun’, but their sexual
encounter had gotten out of hand and then
someone had assaulted him. The next day,
when he cannot find his passport, he realizes
that he has to find the woman.
At the same time in Stockholm, Jonas receives an email containing a photo of a naked
young woman. For the last thirteen years he
has done all he could to forget that night in
Visby, but this photo could ruin his life. Reluctantly, but out of necessity, he contacts
his two former friends. Again they have to
stick together in order to save themselves.
Their first lie necessitates many new ones in
order to conceal their secrets.
Sara Larsson debuts with Den första lögnen, a
suspenseful novel revolving around an evercurrent and uncomfortable topic. It concerns our views on sexuality, the word ‘no’
and the lack of legal protection for women.
It concerns our morals and sense of justice,
our expectations and prejudices, as well as
our perception of crime and punishment.
Press voices:
“Sara Larsson’s debut novel is skilfully narrated, it’s actually entertaining, even though
it is so unpleasantly realistic. She writes an
exact prose, without sparing you the details,
but she never lets the emotions get out of
control. On the contrary, she allows all three
perpetrators their own story, their own defense.”
Dagens Nyheter
is chasing the three men and with what purpose? At the same time the book deals with a
serious social problem. Read it!”
Nya Kristinehamns-Posten
“A furious reckoning with a misogynistic society /.../ Sara Larsson composes her story as
a thriller where the excitement does not lie
in who the perpetrators are, but what has become of them. /…/ a filmic dense novel /.../
Larsson has an obvious talent for the rough,
“One page read, and I’m stuck. It’s too early
socially commenting crime novel. /.../ Quite
in the year to talk about this year’s best cria few of Sweden’s established crime writers
me novel, but Sara Larsson’s book could well
may tremble.”
aspire to the title.”
Arbetarbladet
Blekinge Läns Tidning
“a writer you gladly keep reading /…/ she “The book is written with suspense and a flowing hand making it both easy to read and
writes well /.../ it is an ambitious thriller.”
well worth reading /…/ Sara Larsson manaGomorron Sverige, Swedish Television
ges to both move and disturb the reader, and
“Den första lögnen does not contain much vi- yet succeeds in creating a tension that makes
olence and very few police officers. Instead, the book difficult to put aside.”
the suspense is on a psychological level. Who Vestmanlands Läns Tidning
continued >
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suspense
suspense
På ditt samvete
On Your Conscience
Jenny Åkervall
Jenny Åkervall, born 1972, has worked as
a journalist and speech writer for, among
others, former Prime Minister Göran Persson. Beside her writing she also she’s also a
reporter at Expressen, Göteborgs-Posten and
Borås Tidning, where she’s currently a columnist.
by Jenny Åkervall
May 2015, 344 pages
Senior Editor: Susanna Romanus
Anticipated sequel to Jag tjänar inte/I Will Not Serve.
In 2012, Åkervall made her debut with Jag
tjänar inte/I Will Not Serve, also featuring
Anna Sager and Emre Oktan.
Jenny Åkervall lives with her husband and
three children outside Stockholm
On Your Conscience
A militant pro-life group in Stockholm is becoming more and more aggressive. Brutal harassments of midwives and gynecologists disturb the
calmness of early summer. Meanwhile, a charismatic woman is elected the new leader of the
Christian Democrats, successfully pursuing her
social conservative politics and challenging the
Prime Minister in his role.
Political journalist Emre Oktan is working
on a feature on the Christian Democrat
party leader, at the same time as the pro-life
movement catches his attention. Is there an
unknown connection between the two that
can bring new light upon their recent advances?
soon, Anna Sager and Emre Oktan, cross
paths again.
På ditt samvete is a suspenseful contemporary drama, delivering an exciting inside look
on both forensic psychiatry and political
journalism. Anna Sager and Emre Oktan,
from Jenny Åkervall’s debut novel Jag tjänar
inte/I Will Not Serve, meet again.
Review date: June 6, 2015
Anna Sager is chief psychiatrist of Helix, a
newly founded complex for forensic psychiatry, equipped with all the state-of-the-art
technology. She is consumed by her new job,
excited by the challenge, but one case may
prove too dangerous for her to handle. And
Press voices for Jag tjänar inte:
“I have never read such a confident, captivating and complete Swedish debut as Jenny
Åkervall’s Jag tjänar inte. She has a background as a speech writer for [social democratic party leaders] Göran Persson and
Mona Sahlin, which has given her insight
into the scenery in the Cabinet Office. This
makes the novel feel realistic and credible in
everything from intrigue, power struggles
and relationships with industry big shots to
the vulnerability of being a public figure./... /
The two tracks brush against each other in a
sensitive matter, and the novel is a page-turner in the thriller-like depiction of the conditions of working life in a twisted society
where humanity is tested. Add to it a clean
finish, well composed! ”
Norran
driven and entertainingly written, while it’s
clear that the author wants something - she
portrays a mental health care on the verge of
disintegration and politics where powerful
men hold each others’ back. ”
Aftonbladet
“Jag tjänar inte has a suspense that drives the
plot forward, and a focus of great female portraits, alongside the pictures from politics
and the media scene.”
Arbetarbladet
“Jag tjänar inte is a mix of suspense, contemporary romance and a female depiction of a
psychiatrist who ends up in a life crisis. It is
continued >
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ADVENTURE
ADVENTURE
Michael Mortimer
Michael Mortimer is a pseudonym for critically acclaimed writers Daniel Sjölin and
Jerker Virdborg.
Daniel Sjölin (on the left) was born in
1977, he made his debut in 2002 with Oron
bror. In 2007 he was nominated for the
August Prize for Världens sista roman. Daniel works as a literary critic and for many
years he hosted the literary tv-show Babel.
Jerker Virdborg was born in 1971 and debuted in 2001 with the short story collection Landhöjning två centimeter per natt. In
2002 his breakthrough novel Svart krabba
was published. Jerker is also active as a
cultural journalist.
The Michael Mortimer Series
Driven by love for the classical adventure genre
and admiration for authors such as Jules Verne,
Frans G. Bengtsson and Hergé, Michael Mortimer enters the stage with a grand project.
This is a cohesive adventure story in six parts.
With an impressive narrative drive and quality throughout the text, Michael Mortimer
is able to combine the joyous narrative from
classic adventure books with the urgency of
dystopias, as well as the complexities and
pace of thrillers.
The adventure started with Jungfrustenen
in September 2013 and in May 2014 Fossildrottningen was published. This year the third
instalment, Blodssystrarna, will come out.
Rights sold to:
Bruna, Netherlands
Destino, Spain (world Spanish)
Btb, Germany
Modtryk, Denmark
Salani, Italy
KRP Yayincilik,Turkey
Helios, Estonia
Bazar, Norway
Bazar, Finland
Family Leisure Club, Russia and Ukraine
Press voices:
“Mortimer is a gifted writer with a sense of
humor. Though his characterization is brief,
he does propel his characters into spectacular
events with a joyful brawl.”
Katrineholms-kuriren
“In this way it reminds you of the dangerous
secrets that undermine the authority of the
Church in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and
Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose, and halfway
between these two works Mortimer’s book
could be placed. Faster and trashier than Eco;
more learned and ingenious than Brown. /.../
It’s clear that the author had fun during the
writing. He or she switches easily between
different eras, settings and styles. The language is restrained and functional, slightly
more elegant than the usual use of prose in
the genre. /.../ It’s hard to be bored when
the story zaps between Nobel festivities in
Stockholm, a treasure hunt in Lapland, record label offices in California and Copenhagen during the WWII occupation.”
Svenska Dagbladet
“It’s not often that I read a book capable of
sweeping me off my feet and transporting
me to another world while at the same time
teaching me, in a very grounded way, things
about the world I live in. But that’s just what
Michael Mortimer’s novel Jungfrustenen
does. /…/ It’s rare to find a novel that is as
adventurous, page-turning and well-crafted
as Jungfrustenen. I can’t wait to read the next
instalment in the series!”
Swedish Book Review
“The speed is breathtaking from the very
first page and I am immediately hooked! I
read from cover to cover, 500 pages feel like
nothing, for each page I read I have to read
the next one so I can find out what happens.
There are so many things I like in this book
that it’s even difficult to mention them all –
the element of popular science, the fact pages about historical persons that are a part of
the plot, the breathtaking speed with which
the story is told, and much, much more. Then
there’s the fact that when I read the book,
my imagination soars.”
Boklysten
continued >
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ADVENTURE
ADVENTURE
fiction
Blodssystrarna
The Sisters of Blood [MM3]
Jungfrustenen
The Maidenstone [MM1]
by Michael Mortimer (pseudonym)
September 2015, 542 pages
Senior Editors: Susanna Romanus, Peter Karlsson
by Michael Mortimer (pseudonym)
September 2013, 438 pages
Senior Editors: Susanna Romanus, Peter Karlsson
Available material:
Full English translation of Jungfrustenen/The Maidenstone, as well as a synopsis catalogue in English of the
Mortimer series
In 1769, Carl von Linné’s disciple Daniel Solander
makes a remarkable discovery. More than 200 years
later, student Ida Nordlund receives a strange phone
call from her grandmother Alma in Moscow. Alma
asks Ida to look after a box, which she will receive
at the Nobel Award ceremony. But something goes
wrong and the courier bringing the box, Nobel Prize Laureate Anatoly Lobov, dies under spectacular
circumstances.
The Sisters of Blood
In 1697, the grand royal castle Tre Kronor in
Stockholm burns to the ground, destroying most
of the national library and the royal archives.
One precious book is salvaged: a rare and cryptic manuscript, which is later buried on a southern Swedish island to be hidden from the world.
Two catastrophic accidents occur in Stockholm: a regional train derails off a bridge,
and a few days later a passenger plane crashes in a heavily populated area. Hundreds of
people are killed. A local watchmaker finds
a strange connection between the two accidents and two very exclusive turnip watches,
one of which he has in his shop for repair.
There is a strange force field between the
two watches that breaks if one of the watches stops. And if they stop, catastrophes follow.
Three months after their flight from Italy,
our three heroes, Alma, Lasse and Ida, have
settled down close to Alhambra in the south
of Spain. Together with Miranda – their former foe – they have created a temporary laboratory to research the Queen Fossil. But
their main mission is to find Eva, Ida’s mother.
The news reports of the fatal accidents in
Stockholm travel far, and Alma believes that
they must be linked to the Queen Fossil and
the Solve and Coagula substances. Incognito they travel back to Sweden to find the
watchmaker. Soon an even more serious catastrophe threatens an underwater tunnel in
Gothenburg.
In Blodssystrarna, the third instalment of
the Michael Mortimer series, we again follow the adventures of young student Ida, her
genious grandmother Alma, and Ida’s foster
father Lasse. With the help of Miranda and
the Voynich manuscript, they take on the
quest to find the Fountain of Youth.
Fossildrottningen
The Escape from Paradise [MM2]
by Michael Mortimer (pseudonym)
May 2014, 509 pages
Senior Editors: Susanna Romanus, Peter Karlsson
Ida, Alma and Lasse travel to Moscow to search for
old Soviet files at a governmental archive inside the
Kremlin, and there they find a second piece of the
stone called the Queen Fossil. Their hunt for the
remaining two pieces now begins, and take them
through the marshes of Ukraine to Chernobyl, and to
the Vatican City in Rome.
The scientific adventure continues.
continued >
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Non Fiction
non fiction
Idag ska vi inte dö
We are Not Dying Today
by Magnus Falkehed & Niclas Hammaström
Spring 2015, 282 pages
Senior Editor: Stefan Hilding
A unique story by internationally acclaimed
journalist and photographer from their 46 days
in captivity in Syria.
We Are Not Dying Today
Things turned into a nightmare that has not
been put down in writing until now, with escape
attempts, a gunshot injury and various forms of
torture.
For 46 days reporter Magnus Falkehed and
photographer Niclas Hammarström were
held hostage in Syria. As the only foreign
journalists, they headed into western Syria
in the middle of a burning war. On their way
out, after just under a week of reporting filled with drama and hardship, they were seized by armed men and kept prisoners right
on the frontline.
In their daily struggle against hunger, cold
and the mortal dangers of war, locked up in
a dark basement and guarded by warriors,
their friendship and their faith in life were
sorely tried. They met with frightening, adventurous and sometimes absurd situations
that have not been disclosed until now.
Their families and children faced an abyss
as dark as night: a world of horror, full of
nightly talks, secret negotiations and threats
of imminent death. In the midst of this hell,
two women, Anna and Florence, would keep
their families together and maintain a daily
routine that no longer existed.
Magnus Falkehed
Niclas Hammarström
Magnus Falkehed lives in Paris as a correspondent for Dagens Nyheter. He has also reported
on the Arab Spring from among other places,
Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon and Iraq. His
wife Florence is French, they live with their
two children in Paris.
Niclas Hammarström is one of Sweden’s
most award-winning photographers. In 2012
World Press Photo awarded his reporting
from the massacre on Utøya. He primarily
works for Aftonbladet and the photojournalist agency Kontinent. He lives with Anna
and their three children outside Stockholm.
Idag ska vi inte dö is an honest book about
doubt, love and hope, about people forced to
reach into the depth of their heart for sustenance. It is also a tale of how these dramatic tidal waves change everything for those
around them. A book about ordinary people
who refuse to give up even when pulled
down into an unbelievable shadow world.
Review date: March 18, 2015
continued >
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non Fiction
non fiction
Expeditionen. Min kärlekshistoria
The Expedition – A Love Story
by Bea Uusma
September 2013, 313 pages
Senior Editor: Eva Gedin, Peter Karlsson
Full English translation available
Rights sold to:
Btb, Germany • Cappelen Damm, Norway •
Head of Zeus, world English • Like, Finland
Winner of the August Prize for Best Non-Fiction 2013.
107 000 copies sold in Sweden!
Bea Uusma
Bea Uusma, born 1966, is an illustrator,
physician, and author. During her medical
studies she initiated and wrote a detailed
report about the Andrée expedition, putting forward new facts about the camp
and the possible causes of death.
She has previously written a book about
the Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins,
Astronauten som inte fick landa (1999), who
flew all the way to the moon but never got
to step off the shuttle.
The Expedition – A Love Story
July 1897. Engineer Andrée’s expedition takes
off in a gas balloon heading for the North Pole.
A bold idea without hope from the start. Soon
three men, with minimal knowledge of arctic
conditions, find themselves in the middle of a
white nightmare.
For thirty-three years a woman wonders
what happened to her fiancé. In 1930, the bodies of Salomon August Andrée, Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel are finally found on
a desert glacial island in the Arctic Ocean.
Their frozen journal reports of an emergency landing on the ice after three days in
the air. They drag their several-hundred-kilo
heavy sleds for months trying to find their
way back to solid ground. On White Island
all notes suddenly stop.
For more than a hundred years physicians,
arctic historians, authors and journalists
have tried to solve the puzzle of what happened on White Island. Why did the members
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of the expedition die before they had even
unpacked their sleds, when they had warm
clothes in their luggage, unopened food cans,
and guns in working order as well as boxes
and boxes of ammunition?
In Expeditionen. Min kärlekshistoria, author
and physician Bea Uusma searches for the
truth about the expedition. She digs in archives and in the permafrostic soil layers of
the arctic regions. She travels to the Arctic
and to the North Pole. She meets with medical examiners, osteologists, forensics experts
and crime scene investigators. She tries to get
answers from lab tests and packing lists, and
from the only thing left of Andrée himself,
a few nail fragments retrieved from deep inside his gloves.
The result is not only a book that overthrows
old theories and gives new answers to what
really happened. This is the story about the
world’s most unsuccessful polar expedicontinued >
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tion, but it is just as much a story about Bea
Uusma herself. Why does a very comfortable person, who more than anything hates
the snow and being cold, get obsessed with a
hundred-year-old polar expedition and commit her life to follow in its snow-covered
footsteps?
disconnect between expectations and realities. An abyss as endless as the ice-masses of
the North Pole.” Aftonbladet
Press voices:
“Expeditionen. Min kärlekshistoria is a story
about mad optimism and obsession, not to
say the least Uusma’s own. She does great
and silly things.” Tidningen Vi
“It almost feels wrong to reveal Uusma’s discoveries, even if they are slightly sensational
– like giving away the ending to a crime novel. /…/ In the end, as a reader, you gain an almost hallucinatory 3D vision – and you don’t
even need any silly glasses.” Dagens Nyheter
“I read it in one sitting. You just can’t put it
down.” Nerikes Allehanda
“Expeditionen is a fascinating, seriously enExpeditionen. Min kärlekshistoria is published tertaining book” Helsingborgs Dagbladet
simultaneously in two designs: one is a
textbook, and the other a lavish, illustrated “The story about the three men in a hot air
edition with photos, drawings, maps and ex- balloon is spectacular. But what Bea Uusma
does is just as impressive. /…/ Read!” Tara
tensive extra material.
“Expeditionen is a beautiful and serious dirge
of all the things that make us human. The
gap between our plans and life’s truths, the
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norstedts agency Rights List 2014
Fiction
­­
MIKAEL BERGSTRAND, Delhis vackraste händer/The Most Beautiful Hands in Delhi
(2011), The Dimma över Darjeeling/Mist over Darjeeling (2013)
Sold to: Aschehoug NO, Modtryck DK, Random House DE, Bazar FI.
Option publisher: Alfaguara ES, Bruna NL, Piemme IT, Gaïa FR
PER OLOV ENQUIST, Liknelseboken/Metaphor – A Love Story (2013)
Sold to: MacLehose world Eng, Actes Sud FR, Carl Hanser DE, Ambo Anthos NL, Gyldendal
NO, Rosinante DK, Iperborea IT, Host CZ, Europa HU, Destino ES, Sprotin FO
KJELL ESPMARK, Hoffmanns försvar/Hoffmann’s Defence (2013)
Option publishers:
JONAS GARDELL, Torka aldrig tåra utan handskar/Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves
(2012 & 2013)
Sold to: WSOY FI, Pegasus TR, Piratforlaget NO, De Geus NL, Ars Lamina MK, W.A.B. PL,
Tiderne Skifter DK, Draumsyn IS, Sun Colour TW
ELISABETH HJORTH, Vid himlens början/Where the Sky Begins (2013)
ANNELI JORDAHL, Låt inte den här stan plåga livet ur dig, Mona/Don’t Let This Town
Ruin You (2014)
Option publisher: Vega NO, Suhrkamp DE
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About us
TORGNY LINDGREN, Klingsor och den sista pölsan/Klingsor and the Last Hash (2014)
Option publisher: Gyldendal NO, Rosinante DK, De Geus NL, Tammi FI, Loomingu RaaNorstedts Agency
is Sud
a part
matukogu
EE, Actes
FRof Norstedts, Sweden’s oldest publishing house founded in 1823.
Our publishing group consists of Norstedts and Rabén & Sjögren, and houses internationally
renownedNORDENHÖK,
authors such as Stieg
Larsson,
Dagerman, Astrid
Ingmar Bergman,
HANNA
Det vita
husetStig
i Simpang/The
White Lindgren,
House in Simpang
(2013)
P O Enquist, and Torgny Lindgren.
EMMA NORDLANDER, Kattbarnen/The Cat Children (2013)
We have been selling foreign rights and film rights for more than 60 years, with the whole
world as ourSVENSSON,
market place.
Wedet
represent
authors
works
in the
line ofI Said
fiction
and
AMANDA
Allt
där jag sa
till digand
vartheir
sant/All
Those
Things
to You
general
non-fiction.
Were
True
(2014)
Option publisher: Actes Sud FR,
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Den
som jag
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skulleCarlsson.
göra mig lycklig / The One I Thought
Would Make Me Happy (2014)
CARL-HENNING WIJKMARK, Vi ses igen i nästa dröm/We’ll Meet Again (2013)
Option
publisher:
MøllerDirector,
forlag DK,
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Gurun i Pomonadalen)
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