Long before the Scandinavian surge of crime fiction of today, a few Swedish writers caught my attention and one in the 1990s was Kerstin Ekman. In face, I think I came across this one the year we lived in England.
The plot centers on teacher and mother, Annie Raft, and is set in the 70s, and focuses on events surrounding, and following a double murder at the Blackwater lake in Sweden.
The victims of the murder are two tourists visiting Northern Sweden to explore its forested wilderness. They are discovered by Annie Raft, herself new to the region, as she and her young daughter Mia scrabble through the forest, searching for the commune where her lover awaits and where they are to start life anew away from the turmoil of their lives in Southern Sweden.
Things also deteriorate in the commune. Paradise is not what it seems, nor is Annie's lover. It is years later when this story concludes.
Ekman explores the degradation occurring to the environment at the same time she sets up this plot. The darkness of the land mirrors the darkness of the people who inhabit it. She also examines the animosity between Swedes and Laplanders in the region. From reviews on amazon, I see that this book was too dark for many readers, but we both enjoyed it at the time.
8 comments:
Oh, this sounds interesting, Patti! I ought to look it up.
I don't remember this one at all. (I mean, I know I haven't read it, but I don't remember when it came out.) It does sound dark, but then that is not unusual for Scandinavian stuff, including many of the television series we are currently watching.
And I should look at what she has published since.
I enjoyed the GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO series. Maybe I will try this.
Just looked. According to Wikipedia she is 86 years old. Swedish Wikipedia (no, I can't read it) lists dozens of books, starting in 1959.
And yet that is the only one I have ever seen.
George-not much like DRAGON TATTOO. More like the Sjowal and Wahloo books.
I remember reading an interview with Eric Sevareid long ago in which he discussed his depression and how endemic depression is among the Scandinavians. I believe he was Norwegian, some blood of which I have, which made his explanation more germane to my and my half-Norwegian father. Sevareid theorized that the long winter nights had something to do with the disabling condition. I've read some Scandinavian crime novels recently, finding them well-written, but, as you say, Patti, dark. Right now I'm reading about as dark a book as there is: Vollmann's two-volume Carbon Ideologies, which, tho it is nonfiction I wish to hell it was--because then I wouldn't have to read it!
I feel like I read something by Vollman but on looking at his books, I must have put it aside. Yes, dark, for sure. Just read another one-just as dark.
Post a Comment