Strandberg wins Storytel Awards!
Happy News!
We are glad to announce that Mats Strandberg’s NIGHT VIOLETS (Pestblommor) is the winner of Storytel Award in the category “Best youth novel (12+)”!
NIGHT VIOLETS is a true page turner for all readers from 12 years old. Published by Rabén & Sjögren and has sold over 14 500 copies in Sweden.
Mats Strandberg about Night Violets:
”I want this book to be a gateway drug to gothic stories for young readers.”
Reviews
“The story is a classically, slowly told and nicely portraited manor tale with clear Cinderella elements and not least a respectful greeting to predecessors such as Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. The strongest thing in the book, despite plague, ghosts and sadistic castle wives, is Strandberg’s nuanced portrayal of the girls’ sisterhood, with small means that give a very nice effect. Despite crises and challenges, they find their way back to each other. Strandberg’s real demons are found among the living; the dead wish us no harm. It’s a bit as if Maria Gripe and Lars Norén had a (literary) love child. But outside of marriage, of course.”
Dagens Nyheter / SWE
“Night Violets is spooky and thrilling but it’s also a fantastic family story. The flow in the language is so important when writing for children and Mats Strandberg is a real master. The book is dark and maybe scary, so why not streachread aloud for the book thursty youngsters?”
TV4 / SWE
“Suspense and the supernatural are Mats Strandberg’s hallmarks and they return also in this book. The story rests on classic tropes – the evil stepmother, the sick and trapped child who gets new strength from company and fresh air, the oppressed who turns out to have royal blood. And Strandberg is a solid storyteller. It never gets boring.”
BTJ / SWE
“Mats Strandberg makes his reader gasp for air. It’s both beautiful and clever. And very creepy. Because Strandberg knows what he’s doing.”
Expressen / SWE
“A really eerie story that already feels like a Swedish classic.”
Cafe / SWE
