Description
By (author) Ia Genberg; Translated by Kira Josefsson
Short /annotation:
Five dazzlingly experimental short stories about money, from International Booker Prize-shortlisted author Ia Genberg and translator Kira Josefsson.
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Praise for Ia Genberg:
”Miraculous” –
Hernan Diaz, author of
Trust
”I wish I could write like this” –
Fredrik Backman, author of
A Man Called Ove
”So good that I kept underlining passages so I could reread them later” –
Mark Haddon, author of
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
”Mesmerizing and hot to the touch” –
Catherine Lacey, New York Times
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”You know, love is love, he says. But what about the revolution?”
Intricately built and wickedly humorous, these five interconnected short stories are all about one thing: money.
From an interview with a child-star-turned-thief to the mysterious death of an employee at a drug manufacturer – or the couple feigning marital bliss to keep their inheritance, Ia Genberg carefully unravels the value we place on both money and people.
What does it really mean to be in debt to someone? How does our financial worth permeate the ways we think and feel? And what do we lose when we supposedly win? Small Comfort skewers its characters, slyly implicating the reader along the way.
A brilliantly original and thought-provoking collection from the author and translator of The Details, shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.
Praise for Small Comfort:
”A delightful and exquisitely executed literary mini-study that brings to mind Joan Didion” –
Expressen
”I haven”t read anything better this year” –
Sydsvenskan
”Her humour and delight in language make the stories crackle with life” –
Svenska Dagbladet
”Genberg captures, with intelligence and insight, the afflictions of our time” –
Göteborgs-Poste
Review quote:
A delightful and exquisitely executed literary mini-study that brings to mind Joan Didion.
Review quote:
I haven”t read anything better this year.
Review quote:
Genberg has
a joy in language and precision in expression . . .
she captures, with intelligence and insight, the afflictions of our time; that smooth, qualified bullshit talk that makes truth or lies seem irrelevant.
Review quote:
Ia Genberg writes layered stories that resist easy categorisation. They are a kind of tall tales that the author anchors in reality through precise portrayals of the ways people think, speak, and behave.
The sharpness of Genberg”s powers of observation, her humour and delight in language make the stories crackle with life . . . Ia Genberg is
a sharp stylist who effortlessly swings between the mundane and the profound.
Biographical note:
Ia Genberg (born 1967) began her writing career as a journalist and published her debut novel Sweet Friday in 2012. She went on to write Belated Farewell (2013), Small Comfort (2018) and The Details (2022) – all widely praised by critics and frequently featured on Swedish bestseller lists.
The Details, shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize and winner of the August Prize 2022, has since sold in thirty-nine territories around the world.
The English translation of Small Comfort publishes in 2026.
Primary cover copy:
From the author and translator of THE DETAILS, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023, comes SMALL COMFORT – a book about fi
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