New Swedish Books, Autumn 2018 1
69 Autumn 2018 Ulrika Lidbo (b. 1973) Out of Your
Depth Publisher Alfabeta www.alfabeta.se Rights Alfabeta AnnaKaisa Danielsson annakaisa@alfabeta.se Selected Works Inte vatten värd 2012 Farsta fritt fall 2010 Decembergatans hungriga andar 2009 Selected Literary Prizes Slangbellan 2010 Out of Your Depth The summer between ninth grade and high school is full of upheaval for Lina. Her friend Katja ends their friendship because Lina doesn’t want to party. Her big sister Sanna stays out all night with her motorcycle gang boyfriend, takes drugs, and is driven home by the police. When cool Jessica from Stockholm wants to hang out with the Town-gang, Lina can’t resist any longer. Suddenly it’s like Lina isn’t herself any more. Everything she’s tried her entire life to keep inside, all the pain of her father’s beatings and his lies, all the nights filled with terror, boil over. At the same time everybody around her lets her down. Demonstrating absolute solidarity towards her main character, but without propagandising or going over the top, Lidbo describes a society where a sense of community has been destroyed by class-conflicts, an increasing consumerism, and social networks. Lina’s struggle with her traumatic past and the deceitfulness of her friends transpose the political into the corporeal, where it really hurts. It’s important. Photo: Jan-Åke Eriksson