Skord is a magical being who is neither man nor animal. This novel begins in the Middle Ages when Skord finds himself in a forest with no memory, no past and no language. As he observes the behaviour of the human beings he meets in the forest, he begins to gradually to understand human civilisation and to learn their language.
Startling in its revelations, disturbing in its implications - a thriller of gripping intensity and immense literary power. the hurried flight of a sinister stranger: terrible events long buried in Annie Raft's memory - until she sees her daughter in the arms of the man she believes responsible for the killings...
Under the Snow opens with a phone call from an outlying village to police constable Torsson, and the news is of a mah jong party turned sour. A brawl broke out and a man named Matti was accidentally killed. When he questions the villagers, Torsson notices some minor discrepancies in their stories, but writes them off as unimportant. It is not until a few months later that he is forced to reopen the case: David, an eccentric artist and old friend of Matti, has arrived in town for a visit with no knowledge of the death. David has an uneasy feeling about the whole affair, and when he finds Anna Ryd, the town's beautiful English teacher, running away with a bag containing a noose with human hairs on it, he makes it his business to find out what happened. Gradually the facts of the case come to light and dark deeds which were covered up in the snow and darkness of winter are finally brought to light under the relentless summer sun.
Zeven oudere, uiteenlopende vrouwen komen geregeld bijeen in Stockholm om verontrustende maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen van het fin-de-siècle te bespreken.
Een jonge Zweedse actrice is bezeten van een man die haar echter afwijst.