Narrated in a collection of vignettes, the start of Martin Birck's young life in Stockholm is filled with the joys and frustrations of children everywhere. As he ages, his idealism falls away in a series of small shocks: stories of local murders told by an older friend, having to hold his own in school, an encroaching disbelief in the Christian faith his mother has instilled in him. These, along with his perceived trajectory, lead to the shattering revelation: "So this is life." Written in...

Doctor Glas by Hjalmar Söderberg"Doctor Glas," a classic work of Swedish literature by Hjalmar Söderberg, is a profound and thought-provoking novel that delves into the moral complexities of human nature. Set in early 20th-century Stockholm, the story is told through the diary of Dr. Tyko Gabriel Glas, a lonely and introspective physician who grapples with deep ethical dilemmas and personal anguish.At the heart of the novel is Dr. Glas's growing obsession w...

A smorgasbord of Christmas stories by writers from Hans Christian Andersen to August Strindberg to Karl Ove Knausgaard.This collection brings together the best Scandinavian holiday stories, including classics by Hans Christian Andersen of Denmark; Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf, August Strindberg and Hjalmar Söderberg of Sweden; as well as the popular contemporary Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard. These Nordic tales—coming from the very region where so much ...

Hjalmar Söderberg was a Swedish author, working from the end of the nineteenth century up until the 1930s. While most famous now for his novel Doctor Glas-a favorite of Margaret Atwood's-he also wrote other books, plays, and several collections of short stories.His stories have several common themes: human desire and self-deception, the inability for people to ever truly understand each other, and bittersweet reminiscences of the past. A Stockholm resident for most of his ...

Stark, brooding, and enormously controversial when first published in 1905, this astonishing novel juxtaposes impressions of fin–de–siècle Stockholm against the psychological landscape of a man besieged by obsession. Lonely and introspective, Doctor Glas has long felt an instinctive hostility toward the odious local minister. So when the minister's beautiful wife complains of her husband's oppressive sexual attentions, Doctor Glas finds himself contemplating murder. A masterpiece of enduri...

Henning Mankell described The Serious Game as one of Sweden's lost classics. 'Söderberg wrote a contemporary novel. He wants the reader to look upon that time and to understand that love is not a secluded island, it is always affected by the 'big' world; by society; politics, disasters and scandals. Arvid, an educated and ambitious young man, meets Lydia, the daughter of a landscape painter; it is summer, they are young, and they fall in love. Lydia, however, has other suitors, and Arvid i...

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARGARET ATWOOD'[A] searing masterwork of Northern European literature. The retrieval of Doctor Glas in English is a bracing gift to hungry readers' Susan SontagLonely and introspective, Doctor Glas has long felt an instinctive hostility toward the odious local minister. So when the minister’s beautiful wife complains of her husband’s oppressive sexual attentions, Doctor Glas finds himself contemplating murd...

On its 10th anniversary, rediscover the love story that captured 21 million hearts . . . THE NO. 1 BESTSELLING PHENOMENON AND MAJOR FILM ADAPTATION'One of the most memorable books of the last decade' WOMAN & HOME'Utterly absorbing and blissfully romantic' DAILY TELEGRAPH'The only book that ever made me cry' LISA JEWELL'You simply have to read it' CLOSER

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**This book is about learning to live.Echoing Socrates' statement that the unexamined life not worth living, psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz draws on his twenty-five years of work and more than 50,000 hours of conversations to form a collection of beautifully rendered tales that illuminate the human experience.These are stories about everyday lives: from a woman who finds herself daydreaming as she ...

“Hilarious and big-hearted, The Nest is a stellar debut.” — PeopleA warm, funny and acutely perceptive debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of the shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and their lives.Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonab...

THE RUNAWAY GLOBAL BESTSELLER'Gripping, enthralling - a top-notch thriller and a compulsive read.' SJ Watson, bestselling author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEPRachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess and Jason', she calls them. Their life - as...

The instant number one bestsellerFROM #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR SYLVIA DAYThe final chapter in the global blockbuster Crossfire quintetGideon Cross. Falling in love with him was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. It happened instantly. Completely. Irrevocably.Marrying him was a dream come true. Staying married to him is the fight of my life. Love transforms. Ours is both a refuge fr...