Award-winning fiction from the dark north.
In the Nesting Hen, a prospering trading town, the eternal battles of mankind are fought, over and over again, as if history has taught the world nothing. The ruling class, defined by their imagined pure blood, grows ever richer and more influential, until all the world comes to their palaces, offering alliances and trade deals that will make them even richer. In the streets, laborers, craftsmen and low-born struggle to make ends meet, to make sense of traditions and laws that will not relent. It is a world that does not forgive weakness.
Naike and Hvárek come to the great city as refugees when they are children. They carry scars that will not heal, but also hope for a better future. It soon turns out that their dreams are made impossible by the city's ruling elite and ancient laws. What would you do, when faced with a rigged system? Naike and Hvárek choose different paths in their struggle to survive, and in the end, one of them will have to sacrifice the other.
Cloth merchant Tohek and his wife De-Nesha have built a business from the bottom up, successful enough to challenge even the richest in the city. But as events unfold and the mighty come down on the city's destitute, they realize that success alone will not save them.
City guard Gervashir struggles to follow orders while staying on the right side of his conscience. He hopes for a promotion, to improve his family's conditions. When the rulers of the city see an opportunity to forge an alliance with a neighboring country, they shy from nothing to achieve their goal. And as the despair of the poor meets the arrogance of the rich head-on in the streets, Gervashir realizes that there is no longer a right side.
An uncompromising new voice in fiction.
Christian Gripenvik is a Swedish author of fiction and children's books. He resides in Stockholm and holds a day job as a journalist. "Brother Soul, Sister Flame" is his first novel, and it takes place in a complex universe plagued by racism, injustice and ruthless violence. A place where the downtrodden struggle in vain to better themselves, and the rich and powerful shy at nothing when it comes to staying on top.
"Brother Soul, Sister Flame" was rewarded at the Swedish Indie Book Awards in 2014. It is the first of Christian Gripenviks books to reach an international audience. In Sweden it was followed by the tragic "Gáron & Tírien", a love story gone horribly wrong, and the first two children's books about Emma, a crocodile in search of a new home. The setting of Gripenvik's novels is securely grounded in Tolkien, but the stories themselves refuse to conform to genre rules and expectations.
