New Swedish Books, spring 2017 1
17 Spring 2017 “ Edgy, fast-paced, deft, and with
a comic streak bubbling just under the surface” Agnes Lidbeck (b. 1981) Supporting Act Publisher Norstedts förlag info@norstedts.se www.norstedts.se Rights Norstedts förlag hakan.bravinger@norstedts.se Supporting Act is Agnes Lidbeck’s debut novel. She works as a programme manager and analyst at the Swedish Institute. Supporting Act Supporting Act is a contemporary novel that begins when Anna gives birth to her first child. At that point, a phase of life begins which spells a definitive end to childhood and everything that came before. Life asks a lot of us – to be independent and take control of our existence at the same time as it controls us – and many people find themselves having to perfect a balancing act in order just to get along. In this book, Agnes Lidbeck has portrayed a woman’s entire life. Edgy, fastpaced, deft, and with a comic streak bubbling just under the surface, Anna’s life is carefully drawn. Incisive observations of contemporary life, with all it entails: work, family, love, demands and dreams form part of the picture. And like the impasses interspersed throughout the narrative like comments from an outside observer, they make it even sharper. There are two senses to Anna’s ‘supporting act’ – that of being secondary, and that of constantly acting out supportive roles that do not come naturally to her. For Anna, the interplay between them forms a whirl of forces that she must counteract or reconcile herself to. Photo: Göran Segeholm