New Swedish Books, spring 2017 1
New Swedish Books 6 Witness to the Fall ‘S is dea
d.’ It’s Moscow, early March 1953. Immediately, concern and watchfulness spread among those working close to the top. There are rumours of a sabotage attempt, and a state of emergency is imposed. Information regarding Stalin’s death is highly restricted, but a woman in one of the offices begins secretly to write down her memories. In 1917 she came from Sweden to live as the maid of a priest who worked among fishermen on a Russian island off the north Norwegian coast: a tough life. Witness to the Fall is a tale of barrenness, of living in isolation, fear, and piety. Though it is a novel, it feels very authentic, both in style and in the fastidious depictions of places and people. Mattias Hagberg portrays epochs and societies into which it is very hard to gain insight, and yet he does so with astonishing empathy – the woman’s notes are urgent and intensely vivid. Mattias Hagberg (b. 1975) Witness to the Fall Publisher Bokförlaget Atlas atlas@arenagruppen.se www.bokforlagetatlas.se Rights Bokförlaget Atlas ann-louise.gustavsson@arenagruppen.se Selected Works Herredjuret (Atlas 2011) Novel Rekviem för en vanskapt (Atlas 2012) Novel De användbara (Atlas 2015) Novel Photo: Carina Gran