A collection of winter stories by Selma Lagerlöf, now available in English for the first time and revealing the breadth of this exceptional storyteller’s skills. In a format beloved of nineteenth-century European readers, this is a selection of stories designed to be read aloud in the family circle in the festive season, like those that Charles Dickens contributed to Yuletide almanacs and annuals in his own country. In this Penguin Classics volume, Lagerlöf weaves together magic and miracles, Swedish folklore and timeless fables, darkness and light, heartfelt joy and festive wonder, adds a dash of ghost tale and tops it all with a glittering title story that will appeal to anyone who has ever loved reading and longed for a new book under the Christmas tree. A collaborative project by a team of seasoned Lagerlöf translators, Linda Schenck, Peter Graves and Sarah Death.

“Among women novelists of great talent or genius, none, in my opinion, is to be placed higher than Selma Lagerlöf” (Marguerite Yourcenar)

Children’s stories for grown-ups too! Are you ready for adventures? Don’t you often find that on your way, something unexpected happens? This story collection chronicles the escapades of young people in Finland in days gone by. Follow them as they engage with nature and meet strange creatures. They discover the power of magic and dreams and get back home safely, maybe a little wiser.

Claire Lidman died fourteen years ago. So why does she appear in the background of a recent holiday snap taken in Venice?

Her husband brings the anomaly to Hans Rekke and Micaela Vargas. Initial scepticism gives way to cautious belief, but Rekke is falling apart again and Vargas has her own problems. Her gangster brother is threatening to silence her if she doesn’t get off his case.

Meanwhile, Rekke’s daughter Julia has a new boyfriend she’s determined to keep secret. He sees something in her she can’t see herself, but there are hints of a darker side.

Most troubling of all, Rekke is hearing whispers of a name he hasn’t heard for years. A rival from his youth whose restless evil links all the threads in this incipient case. The pieces are laid and he’s already one move ahead. The name of the game is revenge.

A book about life at Lilla Hyttnäs in Dalarna, home of Carl and Karin Larsson, in the late 19th century. Written by Ulrika Ewerman, with photographs by Mira Wickman, translation by Ian Giles, and styling by Elsa Billgren.

Convinced of his own moral and intellectual superiority, the nameless protagonist of this debut novel is also paralyzed by self-consciousness. Yet, inspired by Stephen King’s On Writing, he decides to dedicate four hours a day to work on his own novel over the course of one summer. Only, he must also balance his creative goals with a part-time government job and looking after his girlfriend’s possibly brain-damaged Pomeranian dog.

Too bad he’s uninspired by his job, almost kills the dog, and realizes his novel is slowly morphing into misguided fan fiction about French writer and enfant terrible Michel Houellebecq.

Even when he’s alone, he can’t help but pontificate before an imagined audience, making over-the-top cases for and against all manner of culture war battles, referencing everyone from Spike Lee to Grumpy Cat. He obsesses over identity politics, and veers into dangerous territory as he and his androgynous girlfriend engage in sexual role-play. He’s an emblem of all the follies of our age—happily unaware that in his refusal to be ordinary, he’s become a walking cliché of misguided manhood.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a portrait of a person belatedly coming of age, a blistering takedown of a privileged man who believes he’s a revolutionary, and “a crackling firework display of comic brilliance” (Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden).

‘The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow’ is a polyphonic, elegaic testimony to the Indigenous Northern Sámi people forcibly displaced from their homeland along the Norwegian seaboard in the first half of the twentieth century.

Published by the University of Minnesota Press.

The telegram reaches Sweden on the morning of Friday, 10 December 1896. Sixty-three-year-old Alfred Nobel has passed away quickly and unexpectedly during the night, at his villa  in the Italian city of San Remo. The news makes it into Afton­bladet the same day. ‘Every educated Swede feels sorrow at  the loss of one of their greatest countrymen,’ writes the news-paper, while avoiding the question that will soon be on every-one’s lips: Who will now inherit his riches?

NOBEL: The Enigmatic Alfred and His Prizes is the fascinating story of the path from Alfred Nobel’s youth to the high-stakes drama that enveloped the dynamite king’s last will and testament. Set against the backdrop of cities such as St Petersburg, Hamburg and Paris, and framed by family quarrels, heartbreak, successes and betrayals, NOBEL is also a captivating account of nineteenthcentury Europe that explores its political currents, literary treasures and scienti?c genius. This is a story about breaking boundaries.

The awardwinning author, journalist and member of the Swedish Academy, Ingrid Carlberg, has combed through archives in multiple countries, unearthing hitherto unknown sources that cast new light on the man who dreamed of doing good for humanity. She combines the researcher’s scholarly rigour with the readability and verve of a narrative journalist. In NOBEL, she has written the first cohesive, comprehensive work to tell the story of Alfred Nobel and the background to the Nobel prizes.

Whether it’s classics like Milk Choc Chip, Peanut Butter and Chunky Double Choc, or new favourites – think Coffee and Cardamom or Melt-in-the-middle S’mores – you’ll find endless options for baking cookies at home with these unforgettable flavour combinations, as well as an array of unbeatable vegan and gluten-free recipes.

In this fun-filled, fresh-out-of-the-oven celebration of everyone’s favourite sweet treat, Kaja Hengstenberg keeps things simple, guides you through the basics and presents delicious, doable recipes. With handy tips scattered throughout, alongside ideas for using up leftovers – ice cream sandwich, anyone? – these are recipes that will show you how to make seriously good cookies every single time.

As a heavy mist rolls into the Swedish coastal town of Fjällbacka, shocking violence shakes the small community to its core. Rolf Stenklo, a famous photographer, is found murdered in his gallery. Two days later, a brutal tragedy on a private island leaves the prestigious Bauer family devastated.

With his boss acting strangely, Detective Patrik Hedström is left to lead the investigation. Tensions rise threatening cracks in the team of officers at Tanumshede police station and pressure mounts as the press demand answers.

In pursuit of inspiration for her next true-crime book, Patrik’s wife Erica Falck leaves behind their three children and travels to Stockholm to research the unsolved decades-old murder of a figure from Rolf’s past. As Erica searches for the truth, she realizes that her mystery is connected to Patrik’s case. These threads from the past are woven into the present and old sins leave behind long shadows.

Eleven stories spanning raw reality and fairy tale, held together by a sense of longing: for escape from the mundaneness of a prescribed life, for a past which promises an undiscovered future, for a place or a person that fees like home.

Criminal inspector Leonore Asker seems to have the leading position at Malmö’s Major Crime Division within reach. But things go awry when, in the middle of a high-profile kidnapping case, management relegates her to the so-called Department of Lost Souls—the unit for odd, cold cases banished to the basement of the police station.

Despite the humiliation, Asker is drawn into one of the more peculiar cases. Someone is placing small ominous figures in town and one of them seems to represent the missing woman from the kidnapping case. As Asker’s investigation takes her to abandoned buildings, she reaches out to a local architecture expert and together they explore the sinister recesses of the city and discover that an unusual kind of evil lurks in the shadows.

A fascinating biography of the founder of the Bonnier publishing house from his arrival in Sweden, following in the footsteps of his brother Adolf, in 1835 to his death in 1900. Besides an in-depth look at nineteenth-century literary Sweden (Albert Bonnier knew everyone and Strindberg does not come off well), the book also addresses the historical context, the constraints faced by Jewish immigrants to Sweden in the early 1800s, changes in the rules on settlement and antisemitism as the century progressed. The issues it raises on immigration, assimilation and freedom of speech remain relevant today.

“Fed up with the way the mountain of clothes in your wardrobe – and across the planet – just keeps on growing? This book is packed with ideas for things to make from clothes you aren’t wearing any more.”

When recycling, re-using and saving money are on everyone’s minds, this is a practical and creative guide to turning your own old clothes into clothes for your baby (or someone else’s). Patterns for the 30 garments and accessories are included, in different sizes, and the book features instructions on sizing, sewing and fabric printing.

Linnea Larsson is an architect by profession and her instructions are clear, enthusiastic and encouraging.

Improve your environment to improve your life!

Are you tired of fighting an uphill battle and constantly having to rely on your own willpower, motivation and self-discipline? Would you like to learn a smarter, simpler way to get the life you’ve always dreamed of – both at home and at work?

Gunnel Ryner overturns the traditional view of self-development and success, in which it’s all about you, and instead shows how you can create an environment – with the right people, things, places, conditions and ideas – that simply draws you in the direction you want to go.

With a light-hearted blend of science, humour and relevant examples, she demonstrates the positive aspects of laziness and shows how the right environment is more important than willpower. The book also provides you with a step-by-step method that makes it easy and fun to get where you want, both in your own life and together with your colleagues at work.

The Wild Game Cookbook is a recipe book for aspiring chefs, hunters and hands-on gourmets interested in the world of wild game. Rediscover this organic, sustainable and versatile meat through delicious recipes, from fine dining to everyday meals.
If you’re already a hunter, our aim with this book is to spark an interest in cooking really good wild game. Maybe nobody ever said “The better the chef, the better the hunter”, but we think it’s true all the same. If you do everything to make sure the final dish is as good as possible, you’ll also make sure you shoot really well. Learning more about cooking game means less wild-caught meat ends up becoming ground meat for lack of inspiration.
If you feel you can get something enjoyable from every aspect of the hunt – the preparations, practice, the actual hunting situation and preparing and cooking the animal – then hunting is truly something for you, and you have a lifetime of community, fantastic natural experiences, and great meals before you.

It is 1795 and evil lurks in the winding alleys of Stockholm. Tycho Ceton prowls the city, willing to do anything to survive and reclaim the honour he has lost. No one knows what he is planning next but Emil Winge, haunted by the ghosts of his past, is determined to stop him. Meanwhile, Jean Mickel Cardell is preoccupied with his own search for Anna Stina Knapp. She may have in her possession a letter which could have devastating consequences in the wrong hands.

All the while, hell looms inexorably . . .

In the seventh part of the Millennium thriller series begun by Stieg Larsson, the action shifts north and the male gaze is replaced by a female one. The Norrbotten region of Sweden is a magnet to sinister incomers as its rich natural resources start to generate vast flows of money. Environmental forces pull politicians and locals in different directions and the traditional Sami way of life is under threat.   Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, each brought to the area by family commitments, find themselves at the eye of the storm as people dear to them become targets.

Until the 1980s, autism was regarded as a condition found mostly in boys. Even in our time, autistic girls and women have largely remained invisible. When portrayed in popular culture, women on the spectrum often appear simply as copies of their male counterparts — talented and socially awkward.

Yet autistic women exist, and always have. They are varied in their interests and in their experiences. Autism may be relatively new as a term and a diagnosis, but not as a way of being and functioning in the world. It has always been part of the human condition. So who are these women, and what does it mean to see the world through their eyes?

In The Autists, Clara Törnvall reclaims the language to describe autism and explores the autistic experience in arts and culture throughout history. From popular culture, films, and photography to literature, opera, and ballet, she dares to ask what it might mean to re-read these works through an autistic lens — what we might discover if we allow perspectives beyond the neurotypical to take centre stage.

As a species, we’ve never had it so good. We’re living longer and healthier lives than ever before; the sum of human knowledge and endless entertainment are only ever a few clicks away.

So why are we in the midst of a mental health crisis?

The Happiness Cure offers a radical new way to think about fulfilment. Blending neuroscientific research and empirical breakthroughs with stories of ordinary individuals, leading psychiatrist and viral TedX speaker Dr Anders Hansen reveals that by adopting an evolutionary take on life, we can re-set our perspective on happiness to find longer-term meaning and lasting contentment.

A bilingual English/French translation of a script written in 1969 as part of an omnibus film collaboration with Kurosawa and Fellini that was never made. Translators:  Deborah Bragan-Turner (English), Jean-Baptiste Bardin (French)

Published in collaboration with Cinematograph AB, Stockholm

“A nervy application of social theory that makes for an invigorating primer and a jarring riposte to present-day assumptions on dating, attachment, and the nuclear family.” — Publishers Weekly

The UK edition of Carin Gerhardsen’s critically acclaimed standalone psychthriller published by Head of Zeus (originally published in the USA by Scarlet in 2021).