Books from Sweden – 10 must-reads

swedense

This is what happened when book-loving Swedes went to the supposedly closed library and borrowed books by themselves...

3. The Details, by Ia Genberg

(Detaljerna)
Translated by Kira Josefsson (2023)

In the throes of a high fever, a woman is revisited by key moments from her past, and the memories of those who have shaped it. Composed of four non-linear chapters, each a heartfelt, keenly drawn portrait of a formative earlier relationship, this short yet resonant novel builds to form a mesmeric account of a life as seen through its details.

Wistful and intimate, and written in a poetic, exhilarating prose, Ia Genberg’s international bestseller is an illuminating study of transience, memory and what it means to be human. Winner of Sweden’s prestigious August Prize (link in Swedish) in 2022, the novel was also shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.

4. Antiquity, by Hanna Johansson

(Antiken)
Translated by Kira Josefsson (2024)

In the sultry summer heat of a Greek island rich with ancient beauty, a lonely, unnamed, 30-something narrator seeks the companionship of Helena, an older artist whom she admires. But when she meets Helena’s teenage daughter Olga, her passions take a more dangerous path.

Described as a queer Lolita story, Hanna Johansson’s provocative, mesmeric debut delves into questions of desire, power and loneliness, and the narratives we build around our lives. Critically acclaimed in Sweden and abroad, it is a lushly sensual text that thrums with expectancy and a sense of impending ruin.

5. The Singularity, by Balsam Karam

(Singulariteten)
Translated by Saskia Vogel (2024)

On a corniche in an unnamed coastal city home to many refugees, a pregnant tourist bears witness to a mother’s haunting, final act of despair. Circling back and forth from the tragic event that will irreparably bind these two women, Balsam Karam’s haunting, formally inventive second novel interweaves their distinct but overlapping histories of loss, displacement, motherhood and generational trauma.

One of the most interesting stylists of her generation, Karam writes with an inimitable, compassionate and at times breathtaking prose that formally echoes the disorientation of exile. The result is a devastating but urgent text that was shortlisted for Sweden’s prestigious August Prize (link in Swedish).

6. Stolen, by Ann-Helén Laestadius

(Stöld)
Translated by Rachel Willson Broyles (2023)
Ann-Helén Laestadius draws on real-life events to spin a gripping coming-of-age tale about a young Sámi woman in a reindeer-herding community in northern Sweden. When brutally pointed hate crimes are met with apathy from the local police force, young Elsa must take the struggle for justice into her own hands.

Infused with vivid depictions of Sámi culture, the novel is a nuanced, keenly observed portrait of an indigenous community grappling with injustice, prejudice, the pressures of contemporary society and the threats of a changing climate. But it is also the story of a young woman learning to live life on her own terms. Now a Netflix film.

7. To Cook a Bear, by Mikael Niemi

(Koka björn)
Translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner (2020/2021)

It is the summer of 1852 in a small village in Sweden’s far north. Jussi, a young Sami boy fleeing an abusive home, is taken in by kind and charismatic Revivalist preacher Lars Levi Læstadius. Jussi becomes Læstadius’ eager disciple. When a spate of murders strike the inward-looking community, Jussi assists the preacher in unmasking the true predator.

This rich and evocative novel is narrated with an endearing rawness and charm. It captures a small rural community on the cusp of modernity, mixing a compelling murder mystery with musings on philosophy, natural science and religion. The subject of a forthcoming Disney+ series, this is a book to savour.

8. Malma Station, by Alex Schulman

(Malma Station)
Translated by Rachel Willson Broyles (2024)

Alex Schulman returns with a delicate, deftly plotted piece of psychological suspense that traces the complex threads of family dysfunction. Travelling through Sweden’s stark summer landscape, a train bound for the eponymous Malma Station carries on it the novel’s protagonists: a couple in crisis, a single father and his young daughter, and a woman seeking to solve an enduring mystery left by her mother.

As the journey unfolds, in Schulman’s engaging, sensitively hewn prose, their connections – and the reasons for their journeys – gradually become clear. A moving, magnetic novel about a search for truth, the scars we carry within us, and those that we inherit.

9. W., by Steve Sem-Sandberg

(W)
Translated by Saskia Vogel (2022)

In this internationally acclaimed novel, Steve Sem-Sandberg masterfully pieces together the life of Johan Christian Woyzeck – a former soldier who killed the woman he claimed to love, and the subject of Georg Büchner's ground-breaking unfinished play from 1836. Making use of archive and documentary material, Sem-Sandberg explores the life and inner turmoil of Woyzeck, and the unjust society that created him.

The result is a nuanced, technically dazzling examination of a troubled man in an age overshadowed by violence. This is raw, complex, and often harrowing subject matter, but Sem-Sandberg delivers it in a spellbinding, image-rich prose with a strong moral anchoring.

Sweden

Interview with Swedish author Karin Smirnoff

10. The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons, by Karin Smirnoff

(Havsörnens skrik)
Translated by Sarah Death (2023)

Lisbeth Salander is back, in this seventh instalment in the Millennium series, originally by Stieg Larsson – beloved books from Sweden. Taking up the mantle from where David Lagercrantz left off, Karin Smirnoff relocates the action to Sweden’s northernmost county of Norbotten. Ruthless developers are rushing to cash in on the area’s untapped natural resources. Salander and longtime collaborator Mikael Blomkvist soon find themselves embroiled in an intricate web of corruption, conspiracy and environmental exploitation.

Packed with the high-stakes thrills and social commentary that fans of the series hold dear, Smirnoff nevertheless brings a fresh style and perspective to the franchise, coaxing out new sides to Scandi noir’s favourite heroine.