Working her way up at a storied Stockholm publisher, a young woman develops an ambiguous, shifting relationship with her boss, in this shrewd novel about the tension between tradition and modernity, and expectations and reality.

The publishing house is anchored like a ship along Stockholm’s main street, a large, bright building with an impressive rooftop terrace. The facade is a grid of wood and granite; flags with a cursive R sway in the wind. R as in Rydéns.

A young woman starts as an intern at this venerated institution, and over many years gains more and more responsibility for its authors and books. All under the supervision of Gunnar, publishing director of the most prestigious imprint behind the finest literature, Andromeda.

Over time their work relationship transforms into something neither of them can truly define. Perhaps built on mutual trust? Or is it something else?

Therese Bohman grew up outside of Norrköping and now lives in Stockholm. Her debut novel, Drowned, received critical acclaim both in Sweden and internationally, and was selected as an Oprah Winfrey Summer Read. Her second novel, The Other Woman (Other Press, 2014), was short-listed for the Nordic Council Prize and Swedish Radio’s Fiction Prize, while her third novel, Eventide (Other Press, 2016), was short-listed for Sweden’s most prestigious literary award, the August Prize. Bohman is an arts journalist who regularly contributes to one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, Expressen, and to the magazine Tidningen Vi.

Marlaine Delargy studied Swedish and German at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and she taught German for almost twenty years. She has translated novels by many authors, including Kristina Ohlsson; Helene Tursten; John Ajvide Lindqvist; Therese Bohman; Theodor Kallifatides; Johan Theorin, with whom she won the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger in 2010; and Henning Mankell, with whom she won the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger in 2018. Marlaine has also translated nine books in Viveca Sten’s Sandhamn Murders series and two books in her Åre Murders series.