How the Swedes invented dreaming - C. Bertelsmann Verlag

Novel from Swedish
By Jonas Jonasson
Translated by Astrid Arz

160 pages. Hardcover. 20 cm.

Are you still asleep or are you already dreaming?

All over the world, people slumber blissfully in the coziest beds of the Traumbett brand, made in Hamburg, Germany. Everywhere? No, the only place the company hasn't yet established itself is Sweden. The new owner, Konrad Kaltenbacher Jr., wants to change that as quickly as possible. And if it were up to Julia, the mayor of Halstaholm in the Swedish countryside, Traumbett, along with its 800 new jobs, would have settled there long ago anyway. To convince the Germans of the advantages of their hometown, Julia is determined to launch a charm offensive the likes of which Halstaholm has never seen before: From the hastily renamed Angela Merkel roundabout, naturally featuring black, red, and gold planting, to a German school springing up from scratch under the leadership of three elderly retirees, to the converted "Bierstube Badehalle" (the swimming pool had been empty for years anyway!), everyone has to get on board. Because Julia always gets what she sets her mind to. A tenacity that even impresses the German Traumbett boss Konrad Jr....

Charming, fast-paced, and original as always - a new (2023) Jonasson, lovingly and high-quality designed!

"In these difficult times, I wanted to write something hopeful, about friendship—namely, the friendship between the Swedes and the Germans, whom I love so much. In my new story, blue and yellow meets black, red, and gold, and it shows: With the right friends by your side, things can get better for everyone!" Jonas Jonasson

Look inside the book...

Jonas Jonasson , born in 1961 in Växjö, Sweden, worked for many years as a journalist and founded his own media consulting firm. After twenty years in the media world, he sold his company and wrote his first novel, "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared." The book captivated readers around the world, selling 4.4 million copies in Germany alone. All of his subsequent novels were also celebrated bestsellers in Germany. With his quirky, feel-good novels, Jonasson invented a genre entirely his own and has delighted a huge fan base for over ten years.

Astrid Arz was born in Sibiu, Romania, in 1958 and came to Germany in 1965. She studied German and Scandinavian studies in Munich. She also founded and co-edited the literary magazine federlese. Since 1981, she has translated literary works from Swedish, Norwegian, and English, including titles by Märta Tikkanen, Emma Tennant, Larry McMurtry, Barbara Kingsolver, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Louise Doughty, and Amy Gentry.

You can find more Swedish novels here.