The Devil Helped Me
The Devil Helped Me
Caroline ErikssonIt was considered a little odd that the beautiful young daughter of a district court judge chose to marry the soft-spoken farmer’s son, Per, who since his father’s death had been living alone with his mother. But Hanna felt he was the right one for her, and she was longing to create her own home. Her mother-in-law’s notorious surliness and irritability would surely improve as time passed.
How wrong Hanna was. Her life on the farm becomes a living hell. Her jealous mother-in-law rules with an iron hand and Hanna remains shut out however hard she tries to break into the circle of understanding between Per and his mother. Every time she manages to have a moment of peace with her husband she is doubly punished.
Something is badly amiss in this family – worse still, Hanna Johansdotter is the last one to realise.
On a cold March morning in 1889 she is found bludgeoned to death at the bottom of the stairs to the cellar. Police suspicion soon falls on Hanna’s husband Per and his mother Anna Månsdotter. What emerges is a tragic drama loaded with jealousy, shame and forbidden desire. There seems to be a curse hanging over Mölle Farm and all who live there.
The Devil Helped Me is a strong, psychological suspense novel and atmospheric literary interpretation of the notorious Yngsjö murder in 1889. A murder and a murder trial that in the end led to the last execution of a woman in Sweden.
Don’t miss Caroline’s blog: booksdreams.se/debutantbloggen
