New Swedish Books, Autumn 2017 1
7 Autumn 2017 What We Owe Iran, the 1980s. The lo
ng-awaited revolution sparks a sense of hope, which is soon brutally and violently extinguished. Nahid and Masood were young, their whole lives stretching ahead of them like a path of light. Now it’s thirty years later. The couple fled to Sweden, a country that offered hope and freedom. Nahid is ill and disappointed with her life, her children... well, with everything. The only thing providing a glimmer of light and hope is the thought of a grandchild – after all, we put faith in our children, it’s up to them to support us. In the novel What We Owe Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde creates an intensely vivid and complex portrait of a woman’s resistance and escape, and her attempts to make a new life in a new country. It’s all still there: dreams, life, expectations, and yet it’s all been left behind – what is one to do with it all? Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde (b. 1983) What We Owe Publisher Wahlström & Widstrand www.wwd.se Rights Ahlander agency info@ahlanderagency.com Works Hon är inte jag Novel 2012 Photo: Helén Karlsson