The Chain
The Chain
Ingrid Marie ThorslundA bruised woman rushes between the puddles on a dark street. She makes her way to a building where someone has carved a chain into the doorframe…
The year is 1975. Ten-year-old Hedda lives with her mother, Teresa, who runs the local tobacco shop on Erstagatan in the south of Stockholm, which is regularly visited by a motley crew of characters. Hedda knows that her mother’s women’s collective meets behind the thick red velvet curtain in the tobacco shop. What she doesn’t know is that they secretly run a network to protect victims of domestic violence. They are all links in a chain, in a time characterised by compassion and community.
We follow Hedda as she explores the streets of Stockholm, where she keeps catching glimpses into an adult world marked by betrayal, passion, friendship and violence. In Hedda and Teresas’ world, there are also magical things, places and people – their friend Agnes, who lives in Paris and works at a famous fashion house, the beautiful mobiles that Teresa creates, and the strange, artistic gentleman who might be a friend. But there is always a silent threat from the unknown men who want to stop Teresa.
There is simultaneously a depth and a lightness in Ingrid Marie Thorslund’s writing, as she captures the voice of the child without compromising the integrity of the language or, for that matter, the child’s ability to express herself. Thorslund portrays events and characters with layers that are subtly woven together with well-crafted detail. There is a lot to read between the lines in her delicate, gripping and
action packed story.
‘I was completely captivated by this gentle and loving portrayal of Hedda’s journey into an adult world where love, violence and civil courage are intertwined in a phenomenal page-turner. I shed many tears while reading it, but I still carry a warm feeling of hope with me afterwards. The Chain is a book that stays in your heart, a story that is much needed in our current times.’
Editor Åsa Björck
