THE FOURTH FRIEND (DEN FJÄRDE VÄNINNAN)

Three university friends make a pact to always be there for one another. Forty years later, on a remote island off the Kenyan coast, one of them will need the others to keep that promise, in this vivid novel by the 220 000-copy bestselling author Helena Thorfinn. 

In the heady days of late-1980s Lund of student unions, underground music and vivid dreams, three young women forge an unlikely friendship around their shared fascination with Karen Blixen. Inspired by the iconic author’s life and work, they vow to live boldly, seek adventure, and always stand by one another. Karen Blixen becomes the unseen fourth friend in their circle; a shared ideal that continues to bind them together long after they leave their student days behind.

Nearly forty years later, Denise, Nilla and Ingrid reunite on an island off the coast of Kenya, where old promises, buried secrets and the shadow of past decisions await them. As Denise’s life begins to unravel and her situation turns desperate, the pact they made in their twenties is no longer a romantic ideal but a matter of survival. Can a friendship forged in youth withstand the weight of time, and become the very thing that saves them when everything else falls apart?

Combining the emotional framework of Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings with the international sweep and restless spirit of Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle, The Fourth Friend is a vibrant, emotionally rich novel about female friendship and the stories that shape us. A book that lingers long after the final page.

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“THE FOURTH FRIEND is a well-written novel that gives rise to fascinating insights.”
BTJ