Showing results by narrator "Sofia Engstrand" in All Categories

The old wooden door to the prison tower Kajsarn in Visby is slightly open. The boy takes the girls hand in the dark when the moist, cold air hits them as a breath from death and the door closes behind them. No one would be able to hear their call for help. They stumble not to fall down in the dark cave. Between the rocks in the wall Erik finds a leather pouch with a map. In the dim light from the lighter they see it is dated 1816. Since that night, they have a secret agreement—one day they shall go to Gotska Sandön and dig up the shipwreck looter's treasure.

It is December in Visby. Pernilla Ekvall cannot feel any holiday spirit—her husband is almost never home and she suspects that he is having an affair. On Lucia morning, December 13, Pernilla takes off in a rush after leaving the daughter Tove at school. What she does not see, is how someone approaches T before she reaches the school yard.

A 14-year old girl disappears on her way home from a film night at school. Her lifeless body is found in the forest the next day. Detective Inspector Maria Wern is assigned the unpleasant task of informing the father. When another girl disappears, panic begins to spread, media blames the police's inefficiency and parents turn vigilante. Can Maria Wern solve the murder before the crisis escalates out of control?

A small group of people with different backgrounds meet to go for dog walks together in a green area in their suburb. Their paths would probably never have been crossed if it wasn't for their dogs and the walks. Through the walks they become friends and when the area is threatened because of building plans they join forces to save their oasis in the suburb.

"The man was hanging stiffly by a slip noose, his shirt ripped to shreds, with a thick stick piercing his belly." Police constable Maria Wern and her colleagues are stunned by the bestiality they encounter. A similar murder occurred in Uppsala nine years earlier. The killer had apparently died in a car fire. Could there be a connection after all? Thanks to Maria's persistence, the image of a murderer begins to coalesce—a human being betrayed and degraded to the point where reality gives way to insanity.

Visceral and poetic, these short stories reveal everyday miracles and trivialities, human desires and anxieties in a very recognizable reality. The woman who cooks soup for the lover whose fidelity she questions, the man who loses courage when faced with the birth of his child, the married couple who know they have embarked on their last summer together. In English for the first time, readers of Tove Ditlevsen and Tove Jansson will be thrilled to discover the debut short story collection of a celebrated Danish writer.

When Lili meets Ben by chance one hot summer’s day, it feels like fate. But life is about to take them in different directions, and so they agree to meet next July, in the beautiful hidden garden where they first laid eyes on each other. But one of them never shows up. Five years later, Ben still wonders how he got things so wrong—he let the love of his life slip between his fingers. And then a stranger, Alice, arrives in his tiny Scottish hometown. Alice has no memory of how she got there: she can’t remember anything before that morning.

For as long as Alice Carmichael can remember, the only thing she’s been able to count on is the written word. The war may have taken everything from her, but the stories she cherishes provide solace and escape into a world that is more hopeful than 1942 England. So when Alice finds herself at the mercy and kindness of strangers, miles from everything she’s ever known, it’s little surprise that books become her purpose.

Using ancient secrets, Galina and Sera’s mother grafted gods into their bones. Bound to brutal deities and granted forbidden power no commoner has held in a millennia; the sisters have grown up to become living weapons. Raised to overthrow an empire – no matter the cost. With their mother gone and their country on the brink of war, it falls to the sisters to take the helm of the rebellion and end the cruel reign of a royal family possessed by destructive gods. Because when the ruling alurea invade, they conquer with fire and blood.

Is it possible for two people to get over their differences in this heartwarming feel-good about starting over and finding out who you really want to be? Advertiser Charlotte Hammar's high profile lifestyle falls apart unexpectedly and she is forced to reevaluate her assumptions on what life should look like. She packs up everything and moves to a small town where she must start over completely. She meets Kent, a local man who dreams of attracting tourists to the town using pikes.