Grand Finale

Kerstin Ekman

From legendary author and former Swedish Academy member Kerstin Ekman comes an instant classic centering on the professional and personal relationship between two women, and the lies they tell to keep up appearances at any cost.

In GRAND FINALE the acclaimed author and member of the Swedish Academy Lillemor Troj has been handed a manuscript, and when she starts to read, she discovers that it is a novel about her very own life.

Devastated, she realises that it is written by Babba Andersson, someone she knows well and has been closely connected to for many years, without ever becoming friends, and who now seeks recognition as an author. Though they were never close, they were professionally totally dependent on each other.

Their shared history started in 1950’s Uppsala, when Babba implored Lillemor to submit a short story to a literary competition; a story which Babba had written, but which she wanted to be submitted in Lillemor’s name. Babba knew that if it was submitted it would also win – but she also knew that it would be a success only if the witty and enigmatic Lillemor was revealed as the author.

And she was right. This was the beginning of a literary conspiracy which continued for decades.

After a literary breakthrough, authors quickly become part of the circus that is fame and fortune. Lillemor is familiar with this feeling; she has performed the role of a successful author all her life.

Now, the other half of the two-woman team threatens to destroy the charming and intelligent persona her readers believe to be Lillemor Troy, forever. She must act before it’s all too late.

Kerstin Ekman’s new novel humorously examines the thin line between fiction and autobiography, depicting life on the literary stage with her signature sharp wit. But more than that, it is a story about the long relationship between two very different women, and about truth and lies, loneliness and intimacy, appearances and reality.