Letter from Malmö

At the twilight of his life, 89-year-old Bo lives alone with his dog, Sixten, in a small village in northern Sweden. His wife, Fredrika, who suffers from Alzheimer's, has been living in a nursing home for three years. In moments of clarity, the elderly man, whose health is declining, reminisces about pivotal episodes of his life: his tumultuous relationship with his father, who, like him, worked in a sawmill; his deep friendship with Ture, who never had a known partner; the birth of his son Hans, with whom communication is difficult... Amid visits from home care aides, Bo struggles to maintain control over his life and his dog, whom he no longer has the strength to care for.

This sums up the plot of When the Cranes Fly South: a debut novel by Lisa Ridzén on the theme of aging, which has had an unexpected journey, profoundly touching Swedish readers. Released in January 2024, the book sold over 190,000 copies (in print and audio) in a country of ten million people, which is grappling with a reading crisis, where selling 5,000 copies – outside of crime novels – is enough to be deemed a success in bookstores. Furthermore, crowned "Book of the Year" by readers at the Gothenburg Book Fair in September 2024, the novel has already been sold in over 30 countries. In Germany, 9 publishers took part in the auction to acquire the rights.

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