New Swedish Books, Autumn 2018 1
New Swedish Books 72 No Longer Mine The city of K
iruna has to move. It’s a local trauma. To Maja it means leaving her childhood home. And although she no longer needs to lie awake listening out for explosions taking place deep within the mountain, the move creates a great deal of anxiety. No one seems to fathom its actual depth. Her best friend Julia has moved to Luleå, and her boyfriend Albin is obsessed with playing ice hockey and pulls away from Maja. When the newlyarrived Aurora, who plays floor-ball and is moving into Maja’s old flat, also attends every single one of Albin’s games, a feeling of jealous suspicion starts to grow. Maja ends the relationship. The depiction of Maja is careful and sincere, but also put together with deceptive skill. Maja keeps a jocular distance from previous experiences of obsessive thoughts and anxiety attacks, giving off the impression that everything is under control. The story is simultaneously infused by a sense of uncertainty. Can the reader really trust that Maja's depiction is not being tainted by a slightly paranoiac illusory world? What’s required here is a reader who is both attentive and emphatic. Ann-Helén Laestadius (b. 1971) No longer mine Publisher Rabén & Sjögren www.rabensjogren.se Rights Hedlund agency Jessica Bab Bonde jessica@hedlundagency Selected Works Tio över ett 2016 Hitta hem 2012 Hej vacker 2010 Selected Literary Prizes Norrlands litteraturpris 2017 Augustpriset 2016 Studieförbundet Vuxenskolans författarpris 2008 Photo: Sofia Runarsdotter