HEARTWOOD (KÄRNVEDEN)

The Woodland series is a sweeping trilogy set in Sweden from the 1930s to the 1970s, interwoven with a present-day storyline. Centring women’s lives and labour, it explores the magnificent Swedish forest and the conflicts, secrets, and loyalties rooted within it.

When a dead body is found buried in the forest outside Djupsele, clues lead back to the summer of 1977. This was when Eva’s father, Nils, disappeared, but also a time marked by protests against clear-cutting, the mechanisation of forestry, and the use of pesticides.

In the present, Eva tries to understand what really happened to her father. When she buys her grandparents’ old cabin she finds clues pointing toward a different truth than what she grown up believing. She realises that John – the man she believed to be her grandfather – may have played an active role in Nils’ disappearance. The discovery forces Eva to confront the legacy she has inherited: not only land and memory, but silence, compromise, and guilt. Separately, Fanny struggles with trauma, Vilgot finds the courage to come to terms with his sexuality, and Eva must decide what it means to stay, now that she can no longer look away from some hard truths.

In a parallel narrative set in the late 1950s, Nils comes of age as Swedish forestry is increasingly mechanised and the old ways of working the land disappear. John, shaped by manual labor and tradition, feels the ground shifting beneath him. Siv, no longer a forest cook, tries to build a quieter life, even as she and Nila share one final, painful meeting that brings her a form of closure, leaving her scarred, but resilient. Like heartwood.

Heartwood, the third and last instalment in the series, explores themes of love and violence, belonging and dispossession, and the moral weight of choices made long ago. It asks what it truly means to inherit a landscape, and whether facing the truth is an act of betrayal, or the only way forward. When is it time to forget and forgive, and when is it time to fight?

The first two books in the Woodland series have sold over 120,000 copies in Sweden alone.

350 pages

Rights Sold

Sweden: Romanus & Selling
Denmark: Gutkind Alpha
Finland: Otava
France: Buchet Chastel
Germany: Gutkind
Netherlands: Mozaïek
Norway: Aschehoug
Ukraine: One More Page Publishing Group

REVIEWS

‘For anyone looking for a well-written historical series centred on resilient women, Heartwood – like the previous instalments, Cloudberry Mire and Pale Soil – is an absolutely excellent choice. Learnings about the forest and its history come as an added bonus. Overall rating: 4. Very good.’
Annika Hjertström, BTJ / SWE

‘…there is much to praise in Ulrika Lagerlöf’s suite of books, which is as ambitious as it is entertaining. The series is so full of respect for nature, and of love for the sparsely populated rural areas of northern Sweden. Her portrayal is of a warmer nature than the otherwise often austere literature of Västerbotten.’
Bodil Juggas, Arbetarbladet / SWE

‘…a wonderful portrait.’
Inger Dahlman, Uppsala Nya Tidning