When everything began so well, how could it turn out so badly? A blisteringly frank autobiographical novel by Sweden's great man of letters - for readers of K. O. Knausgaard's My Struggle.
Per Olov Enquist Book order
September 23, 1934 – April 25, 2020
Per Olov Enquist was an internationally renowned Swedish author, celebrated for his novels and plays. His works are characterized by a deeply pessimistic worldview, often exploring the constricting influence of pietistic lifestyles on individuals. After studying literature, Enquist established himself as a prominent journalist and television moderator, solidifying his influential position within Swedish literary circles. His writing delves into the complexities of human psychology and societal pressures, earning him significant global recognition.
- 2015
- 2006
Using Blanche Wittman's notebooks - 'The Book of Questions', this work weaves fact and fiction to render the extraordinary relationship of two extraordinary women at the dawn of a century of tremendous change. This is a tale of scientific discovery, death, art and love.
- 2002
The Royal Physician's Visit
- 320 pages
- 12 hours of reading
An international sensation, The Royal Physician's Visit magnificently recasts the dramatic era of Danish history when Johann Friedrich Struensee -- court physician to mad young King Christian -- stepped through an aperture in history and became the holder of absolute power in Denmark. His is a gripping tale of power, sex, love, and the life of the mind, and it is superbly rendered here by one of Sweden's most acclaimed writers. A charismatic German doctor and brilliant intellectual, Struensee used his influence to introduce hundreds of reforms in Denmark in the 1760s. He had a tender and erotic affair with Queen Caroline Mathilde, who was unsatisfied by her unstable, childlike husband. Yet Struensee lacked the subtlety of a skilled politician and the cunning to choose enemies wisely; these flaws proved fatal, and would eventually lead to his tragic demise.
- 1993
The March of the Musicians
- 256 pages
- 9 hours of reading
A superbly crafted documentary novel about how the workers in one small area of Northern Sweden at the turn of the century gradually awaken from an entrenched apathy – political, spiritual, emotional – and begin to fight against their appalling conditions. Such, however, is Per Olov Enquist’s ability to understand the motivation of these people who patiently allow themselves to be exploited by the sawmill owners and tormented every Sunday by hellfire preachers, that he transforms what is no more than a footnote in the history of Swedish labour movement into a story with universal meeting. And such is his empathy with his characters that in the end these flawed human beings achieve almost heroic stature.