New author – Carl Åkerlund

We are thrilled to open our doors to literary debut author Carl Åkerlund, whose first book FATHERLAND / FÄDERNESLAND has just been published by Weyler Förlag in Sweden to critical acclaim. Carl is a literary and cultural writer, and was previously the editor of Provins magazine for five years.

Fatherland sees a Swedish family with two teenage children, on a walking holiday in the Pyrenees, get stranded when war suddenly breaks out at home in Sweden. They find themselves as penniless refugees in Spain, a country which at first welcomes them with open arms, but whose attitude changes over time. What happens when the tables are turned and what you thought was safe and secure is suddenly anything but?

In a separate narrative strand, the reader meets Lovisa, a headstrong teenager in northern Sweden in 1809 – just after the last battle that was ever fought on Swedish soil. Sweden may be at peace, but fear and rumours prove hard to dispel and stories of deserters hiding in the ancient woods continue to flourish. When Lovisa meets Mihail, both of their lives are changed forever.

The book examines themes of identity, nationhood and what it means to call somewhere home. With razor-sharp prose and astute contemporary realism, Carl Åkerlund’s debut is a breathtaking literary event, as urgent as it is timeless.

Photo: Sofia Runarsdotter