He was admired by millions of strangers, but not a single one could offer any solace.
What was it that he had always searched for?
And when his chest sank and his heart stopped, one last question echoed.
To what purpose did I need all those honours?
Through the canopy of branches overhead a sunbeam found its way and blinded him. He was lying on the little patch of grass underneath the apple tree. He heard the sound of steady blows from his father’s hammer and his mother pottering about in the garden.
He was back at Bliss.
The happiest moments of his life.
About the Author
Karin Alvtegen was born in Jönköping, Sweden in 1965 and had a varied career, including work in set design for film and stage, before she started to write. She won Sweden’s most prestigious crime novel award, the Glass Key, in 2000 with her novel Missing, and further acclaim with her next two novels, Betrayal and Shame. She is the great-niece of Astrid Lindgren (author of the Pippi Longstocking series), and lives in Stockholm. Her books have been translated into 27 languages.
McKinley Burnett is a prize-winning translator from Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and German.
