Suspense novella set in a cold and bleak Sweden

9th October 2017

The White City by Karonlina Ramqvist, suspense novella set in a cold and bleak Sweden.

The cover of the book absolutely reflects the content. The environment is bleak and hostile with snow and ice all around, harsh and unforgiving. The life of the protagonist, Karin, is a battle to survive in difficult circumstances.

Karin has had a relationship with John who has now disappeared. He was involved in shady dealings which are never revealed, but his disappearance has left Karin and her young child, Dream, destitute. Various agencies have given notice that they are reclaiming her worldly wealth, including the luxury house which she can no longer afford to heat. The book opens as she unsuccessfully tries to sell one of her luxury handbags to release even a small amount of cash in order to live.

She has little recourse but to try and claim money and items from his clique that should rightfully be hers, she believes. Would they see her and her baby starve and put out on the street? John’s group individually express their sorrow at her plight but offer little help. She ploughs her way from one venue to the next in search of recompense, her daughter either in her stroller or clamped to her breast. The exigencies of the situation leave her with only desperate choices, food is sparse, warmth is at a premium… and who can she really trust? A woman with a small daughter has to make extreme decisions in order to simply survive.

The writing is tight and well developed making this a hugely readable book and it is well translated by Saskia Vogel, although the Americanisms do grate at times. The author creates suspense and atmosphere that just carry the writing to the end. The mother/child bond is strong, the child is often suckling avariciously, causing milky engorgement. Karin attends to her baby’s needs as best she can. I initially built a visual image of a fairly newborn baby in need of succour, helpless, a symbol of a loving relationship that has disintegrated. Imagine my surprise when this baby had enough gumption to crawl off and disappear into a drawer of pans in the kitchen. A newborn suckling causes milk to swell breasts; a toddler has a very different and settled feeding regime. I felt I needed then to change my mental imagery of the mother/baby bond at the heart of this novella, which in turn left me slightly unsettled. That notwithstanding, this book is very readable, with a dream-like quality. A woman in shock, struggling to engage with those around her, assaulted by the cold and biting environment. .

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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