First published 2012
Jesper Humlin faces a string of problems. His poetry books sell poorly. His girlfriend grows frustrated with him. His mother makes constant demands. His stockbroker has lost his money. His editor insists he write a crime novel to save his career and promotes this nonexistent book without permission. Humlin travels to Gothenberg for a reading and enters a world he never expected. He meets Leyla from Iran, Tanya from Russia, and Tea-Bag from Africa who claims Kurdish heritage to improve her refugee status. These young women become his students in writing workshops that develop by accident. Their names change, their stories weave together, and their hidden pasts demand to be told. Humlin originally sees their experiences as material for his own book. But as their lives become more tangled with his, he discovers they need him to serve a completely different purpose than he imagined.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, mystery, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Gothenberg, Iran, Russia, Africa
Period: contemporary
330 pages · Hardcover · The New Press
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness