In her #1 international bestseller Hanna's Daughters, Marianne Fredriksson brilliantly evoked three generations of mothers, daughters, and the men in their lives. Now in her haunting new novel, she traces the extraordinary relationship between a mother and son, and the remarkable family they inhabit, exploring an emotional landscape of restless souls and resilient hearts. Ever since childhood, Simon Larsson has struggled with inexplicable feelings that something from his past was not quite right. The expansive sea bordering his Swedish homeland fills him with longing--for connection, for freedom. But freedom from what? And why does Simon feel so lonely in the center of a loving family? His devoted mother, Karin, the backbone of the house, is the person everyone turns to in time of need; Erik, his father, harbors the simple dream of one day owning a boatyard. Yet history forces them to conceal a shattering secret from Simon--one that, if ever revealed, threatens to destroy them all. As the shadow of World War II falls across Europe, and Erik is drafted into the fight, Simon forms a friendship with his Jewish classmate, Isak Lentov. It is a relationship that will forever change both their lives, as the Larssons and the Lentovs are irrevocably drawn together to create a makeshift family all their own, striving to endure shame, betrayal, war, even madness. But no one will remain untouched . . . or unchanged. The search for who we are and where we came from; the yearning for reconciliation between parent and child; the ever-shifting nature of what makes a family; the realization that truth can be found in what is unspoken--Marianne Fredriksson weaves these elements into a powerful story of survival and transcendence, sacrifice and forgiveness--showing how even the most damaged heart can heal in the most unexpected ways.

Simon's Family: A Novel of Two Families

Literature & Fiction

MARIANNE FREDRIKSSON

Contemporary

Ballantine Books

Hanna. Johanna. Anna. Three women, three generations, one family.A #1 international bestseller in Europe, this luminous, heartfelt novel spans more than a hundred years in the lives of three remarkable women--a daughter, mother, and grandmother--lives shaped by the epic sweep of history and linked through a century of great love and great loss. As Anna holds vigil at her mother's bedside, she longs for reconciliation--not just with her mother, Johanna, but with her grandmother, Hanna, a woman she never really knew. Determined to piece together the fragments of her past, Anna sifts through tattered letters, cracked diaries, and old photographs, as the vivid lives of Hanna and Johanna at last begin to unfold.Through shades of memory and history, longing to join the ancient threads of the family tapestry, Anna begins searching for answers to questions that have haunted her for a lifetime. What was it like for her grandmother, Hanna, more than one hundred years ago, when she married a miller and raised an illegitimate child in a staunch, rural community? What drove Anna's own mother, Johanna, once a fiery revolutionary, to settle down and become a housewife? And why did the ties binding Anna to her mother and grandmother drive all three apart--only to bring them back together again? Rich in insight, and resonating with truth and revelation, Hanna's Daughters is an unforgettable story, exploring the volatile ties of mothers and daughters. If you have ever wanted to connect with the past, or rediscover family, this novel will strike a chord in your heart. Marianne Fredriksson has created nothing short of a masterpiece.

Hanna's Daughters

orion#

Simon and the Oaks

Simon is an ordinary boy growing up in Sweden; at least until World War II is declared; until he befriends the traumatised Jewish boy Isak; and until he learns that he is adopted. With his innocence forever lost, Simon must embark on a quest for self-hood that will be his salvation - or ruin.

Romance

ACCORDING TO MARY: The Life of Mary Magdalene- a Novel

Genre Fiction

Inge is tall and cool and Mira is petite and dynamic. When they meet, each is attracted by something special and different about the other. But friendships based on the attractions of opposites can be stormy, and theirs is no exception.Blonde Inge is a native of Sweden, while dark Mira has fled there to escape the living hell of Chile at the time of he military coup led by General Pinochet. (from dustcover, 1999)

Inge and Mira

Long after the death of Christ, Mary Magdalene is married to a silk merchant, Leonidas. She lives a quiet and harmonious life in Antioch until, one day, the apostle Peter comes to the market square to preach and she slips into the crowd to hear what he has to say. She is not impressed, and wants to forget that Jesus chose death, not life with her. But she has reckoned without the apostles who persuade her to write down everything she can remember. Mary starts with her Jewish childhood and the slaughter of her family by the Romans. Running for her life, she is rescued by Leonidas who leaves her in a 'house of pleasure' where she grows into a beautiful woman. Then she meets and falls deeply in love with a young man from Nazareth - and her life changes. She follows him as he spreads God's word, healing the sick, the lame and the blind. Marianne Fredriksson masterfully breathes new life into the figure of Mary Magdalene in this novel of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, seen through the eyes of the woman who loved him most.

According to Mary

Katarina Elg is young and free. She adores falling in love, but lasting closeness frightens her and she cannot accept being tied down.  Independence is more precious than anything else.  Then she becomes pregnant and decides, surprisingly perhaps, to keep the baby.  Her mother, Elisabeth, is supportive, but her lover reacts violently, beating her because he thinks her pregnancy no accident and that she was trying to trap him.  Katarina remembers her childhood, how she watched her mother being systematically abused, and feels that her experience is part of a pattern.  She wonders, can violence be inherited? If so, can it be inherited by victims as well as perpetrators? These thoughts lead her to approach  her mother, and the two women open up to each other as the past is confronted and explored. In her new novel, Marianne Fredriksson explores how personalities are shaped by experience; the deep bonds between mothers and daughters; and how we can only grow through our relationships with others.

Elisabeth's Daughter

Anna has returned from visiting her mother. Restless and unable to sleep, she wanders through her parents' house, revisiting the scenes of her childhood. In a cupboard drawer, folded and pushed away from sight, she finds a sepia photograph of her grandmother, Hanna, whom she remembers as old and forbidding, a silent stranger enveloped in a huge pleated black dress. Now, looking at the features Anna recognises as her own, she realises she is looking at a different woman from the one of her memory. Set against the majestic isolation of the Scandinavian lakes and mountains, this is more than a story of three Swedish women. It is a moving testament of a time forgotten and an epic romance in every sense of the word.

Phoenix_Press

Katarina Elg is young and free. She adores falling in love, but lasting closeness frightens her and she cannot accept being tied down. Independence is more precious than anything else.  Then Katarina becomes pregnant and decides, surprisingly perhaps, to keep the baby. Her mother, Elisabeth, is supportive, but her lover reacts violently, beating her because he thinks her is pregnancy no accident and that she is trying to trap him. Katarina remembers her childhood, how she watched her mother being systematically abused, and feels that her experience is part of a pattern.  These thoughts lead her to approach  her mother, and the two women open up to each other as the past is confronted and explored.

Phoenix

HANNA'S DAUGHTERS (LARGE PRINT)

Literary

W.F.HOWES

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MARIANNE FREDRIKSSON. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by MARIANNE FREDRIKSSON

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MARIANNE FREDRIKSSON. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Simon's Family: A Novel of Two Families

Hanna's Daughters

Simon and the Oaks

ACCORDING TO MARY: The Life of Mary Magdalene- a Novel

Inge and Mira

According to Mary

Elisabeth's Daughter

Hanna's Daughters

Elisabeth's Daughter

HANNA'S DAUGHTERS (LARGE PRINT)