From Publishers Weekly
From the author of Blackwater comes the second in a series of four novels by renowned Swedish author Kerstin Ekman (trans. by Linda Schenck), following the highly acclaimed Witches' Rings. The Spring, like its predecessor, centers around the lives of women in a small Swedish town during a time of change and unrest. A labor strike, women's suffrage and a food shortage are just a few of the circumstances disrupting the routines of Frida Eriksson, a washerwoman with an unwanted pregnancy, and Tora Otter, a baker who struggles with her cafe and her romantic life. The bleak picture this engrossing novel paints is brightened by touches of empathy and subtle humor.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
"An essential component of what begins to look like an extended work of major importance."-Kirkus Reviews. Moving on from the early twentieth century until the inter-war years, The Spring follows the development of the characters and the community familiar to readers from Witches' Rings (available from Dufour). With a narrative of great subtlety and compelling power, it focuses on the lives of three women, Tora, Frida, and Ingrid, and highlights what is denied and invisible with the instinct that detects what is missing in a society. It presents a history of a place not only through women but through women many of whom would not even make the town's records. Ekman has earned Sweden's highest literary awards, including the Selma Lagerlof Prize, the August Prize, and The Pilot Prize.
