Description
An art expert joins a detective to investigate a horrific murder on a Swedish island, leading them to a mystery rooted in Viking rites and Scandinavia's deepest, darkest winter. The Queen of French Noir returns with a chilling, utterly captivating gothic thriller, based on a true story. FIRST in a new series.
'Gustawsson's writing is so vivid, it's electrifying' Peter James
'Remember her name. Johana Gustawsson has become a leading figure in French crime fiction [and] Yule Island is impossible to put down' Le Monde
***Winner of the Cultura Ligue de l'Imaginaire Award 2023***
________
Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she's asked to appraise the antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.
Emma must work alone, and the Gussman family apparently avoiding her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide?
As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.
When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosen arrives to investigate, and memories his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this young woman's tragic death somehow hold the key?
Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past - Viking rites and tainted love - and Scandinavia's deepest, darkest winter...
________
PRAISE FOR JOHANA GUSTAWSSON
'Wonderfully dark and intricately woven ... will have you hooked from the very first page' B A Paris
'Johana Gustawsson has become the queen of the French thriller genre' Le Point
'Intriguingly dark and vivid, and so cleverly told' Essie Fox
`A gripping story of murder and black magic ...Gustawsson slowly weaves together three seemingly disparate strands of her narrative with a skill that shows why she is such an admired crime writer in her native France The Times
'A wonderfully creepy, unsettling read, with a superb twist in its tail' James Oswald
'Bewitching and wonderfully gothic' Sunday Express
'Johana Gustawsson brilliantly illuminates the depths of the human heart' Le Figaro
`A whirlpool that draws you irresistibly into levels of darkness so much deeper than you can possibly be ready for Ambrose Parry
'Ethereal, romantic and as cold as death, this nerve-shattering and powerful novel immerses us in a cruel and thrilling Nordic tale where love smashes against the rocks of madness' La Fringale culturelle
'A stunning and beautifully written gothic thriller' Alexandra Benedict
'Johana Gustawsson has no equal when it comes to hooking us with stunning twists and unexpected leaps in time' Les Echos
'A bold and intelligent read' Guardian
'Utterly compelling' Woman's Own
`Brilliant ... the last chapters knocked me sideways, and it's a long time since that's happened Lisa Hall
`A dark world of elegance and grotesque ... mesmeric Matt Wesolowski
'Cleverly plotted, simply excellent' Ragnar Jonasson
'A must-read' Daily Express
About the Author
Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d'Argent, Balai de la decouverte, Balai d'Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding - a number one bestseller in France and the first in a new series - will be published in 2022. Johana lives in London with her Swedish husband and their three sons. Follow Johana on Twitter @JoGustawsson David Warner translates from French and nurtures a healthy passion for Franco, Nordic and British crime fiction. Growing up in deepest Yorkshire, he developed incurable Francophilia at an early age. Emerging from Oxford with a Modern Languages degree he narrowly escaped the graduate rat race by hopping on a plane to Canada - and never looked back. More than a decade into a high-powered commercial translation career, he listened to his heart and turned his hand to the delicate art of literary translation. David has lived in France and Quebec, and now calls beautiful British Columbia home. Follow David on Twitter @givemeawave and on his website wtranslation.ca
Book Information
ISBN 9781914585975
Author Johana Gustawsson
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Orenda Books
Publisher Orenda Books
'Gustawsson's writing is so vivid, it's electrifying' Peter James
'Remember her name. Johana Gustawsson has become a leading figure in French crime fiction [and] Yule Island is impossible to put down' Le Monde
***Winner of the Cultura Ligue de l'Imaginaire Award 2023***
________
Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she's asked to appraise the antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.
Emma must work alone, and the Gussman family apparently avoiding her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide?
As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.
When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosen arrives to investigate, and memories his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this young woman's tragic death somehow hold the key?
Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past - Viking rites and tainted love - and Scandinavia's deepest, darkest winter...
________
PRAISE FOR JOHANA GUSTAWSSON
'Wonderfully dark and intricately woven ... will have you hooked from the very first page' B A Paris
'Johana Gustawsson has become the queen of the French thriller genre' Le Point
'Intriguingly dark and vivid, and so cleverly told' Essie Fox
`A gripping story of murder and black magic ...Gustawsson slowly weaves together three seemingly disparate strands of her narrative with a skill that shows why she is such an admired crime writer in her native France The Times
'A wonderfully creepy, unsettling read, with a superb twist in its tail' James Oswald
'Bewitching and wonderfully gothic' Sunday Express
'Johana Gustawsson brilliantly illuminates the depths of the human heart' Le Figaro
`A whirlpool that draws you irresistibly into levels of darkness so much deeper than you can possibly be ready for Ambrose Parry
'Ethereal, romantic and as cold as death, this nerve-shattering and powerful novel immerses us in a cruel and thrilling Nordic tale where love smashes against the rocks of madness' La Fringale culturelle
'A stunning and beautifully written gothic thriller' Alexandra Benedict
'Johana Gustawsson has no equal when it comes to hooking us with stunning twists and unexpected leaps in time' Les Echos
'A bold and intelligent read' Guardian
'Utterly compelling' Woman's Own
`Brilliant ... the last chapters knocked me sideways, and it's a long time since that's happened Lisa Hall
`A dark world of elegance and grotesque ... mesmeric Matt Wesolowski
'Cleverly plotted, simply excellent' Ragnar Jonasson
'A must-read' Daily Express
About the Author
Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d'Argent, Balai de la decouverte, Balai d'Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding - a number one bestseller in France and the first in a new series - will be published in 2022. Johana lives in London with her Swedish husband and their three sons. Follow Johana on Twitter @JoGustawsson David Warner translates from French and nurtures a healthy passion for Franco, Nordic and British crime fiction. Growing up in deepest Yorkshire, he developed incurable Francophilia at an early age. Emerging from Oxford with a Modern Languages degree he narrowly escaped the graduate rat race by hopping on a plane to Canada - and never looked back. More than a decade into a high-powered commercial translation career, he listened to his heart and turned his hand to the delicate art of literary translation. David has lived in France and Quebec, and now calls beautiful British Columbia home. Follow David on Twitter @givemeawave and on his website wtranslation.ca
Book Information
ISBN 9781914585975
Author Johana Gustawsson
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Orenda Books
Publisher Orenda Books
Reviews
-
Full of twists and turns throughout
This is another pick from my huge physical TBR bookshelf. I'm trying at the moment to clear some of the backlog but I also keep adding books as I have absolutely no self control so it's an ever increasing situation. I'd describe this as less a police procedural more suspenseful mystery maybe a bit of the two. It's a french translation and has been done well it's told from three characters POV's Emma Karl and Viktoria. Emma is a successful art appraiser her latest job is to catalogue the Gussman family's collection at the Manor house on Storholmen island where the hanging girl was discovered 9 years prior. Karl is the original investigator on the case and Viktoria a housekeeper who works at the manor. This had twists and turns aplenty and was very cleverly done the past is interwoven with present day events and a new case concerning another young girls senseless murder definitely seems connected to the original still unsolved hanging girl
