Linda Olsson

“See, you must know, that all that lives
Is deep inside of equal kind.
Like trees and herbs it seeks to grow—
Pulled forward by its inner laws.
And trees may fall and flowers wilt
And branches break, their power lost,
Still the dream remains—awaits the call—
In every living drop of sap.”

A poem by Karin Boye, as quoted by Astrid in the novel.

This is the story of two wounded souls, both of whom are living on the edge of society in an effort to move beyond grief. On the verge of turning thirty, Veronika has returned to her native Sweden to rent a country house and write a book in isolation. Astrid, the mysterious elderly woman who is her only neighbor, harbors her own untold tale. Both women possess the power to heal the other, though neither can initially see it in their woundedness.

Winding through the seasons from one Winter to the next, Astrid & Veronika is largely a story of place, focusing on how our leaving and returning affects our internal landscape as well as our external view. Olsson’s gentle story telling has an unhurried pace that forces the reader to slow her breath and to tread more carefully. Her strength as a writer is largely her sense of detail, and both people and landscape come into vivid view through her narrative. Olsson’s Swedish roots do much to imbue this story with the moodiness required for living where the days, like stories, sometimes stretch out indeterminately, and sometimes move by in a flash. (Something readers in Seattle and Copenhagen are likely to relate to, which may explain what drew me to this novel!)

An author interview–something that is featured quite often in newer paperbacks–provides an interesting read, especially when Olsson talks about the difference between writing a short story and writing a novel.

Overall, this books is a good choice for a Winter read, or for a study of how to capture place in one’s writing

For more great books, music, and flim flam head over to Magpie Reviews. Every purchase made through Magpie Reviews helps support this site!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 4:59 am and is filed under Magpie Girl.
Tags: books, reviews



You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.