Contemporary Swedish fiction

Cover image for Malma Station by Alex Schulman

Malma Station by Alex Schulman (transl. Rachel Willson-Broyles) ‘You are never alone’

/ 10 Comments

The blurb for Alex Schulman’s Malma Station was so impenetrable I’d have passed it by had I not been so impressed by The Survivors back in 2021. Schulman’s new novel explores similar themes following three journeys to the eponymous station deep in the Swedish countryside, separated by several decades. Often, when her parents fought, she […]

Malma Station by Alex Schulman (transl. Rachel Willson-Broyles) ‘You are never alone’ Read More »

Cover image for The Family Clause by Jonas Hassen Khemiri

The Family Clause by Jonas Hassen Khemiri (transl. Alison Menzies): What Larkin said

/ 6 Comments

Two things drew me to Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s The Family Clause: I’d enjoyed his previous novel, Everything I Don’t Remember, back in 2016, and the blurb sounded tempting with its promise of chaotic and discordant family life. I’d been expecting a fairly straightforward linear narrative but that’s not Khemiri’s style. This everyday tale of a

The Family Clause by Jonas Hassen Khemiri (transl. Alison Menzies): What Larkin said Read More »

Cover image

Everything I Don’t Remember by Jonas Hassen Khemiri (transl. Rachel Willson-Broyles): A story in many voices

/ 8 Comments

What attracted me to Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s prize-winning novel was its structure. It’s the story of a young man who dies one April afternoon in Stockholm, his car wrecked in a crash which some speculate may have been suicide, others are sure was an accident. Khemiri tells Samuel’s story through a series of interviews with

Everything I Don’t Remember by Jonas Hassen Khemiri (transl. Rachel Willson-Broyles): A story in many voices Read More »