The Magical Coat

Katarina Genar, illustrated by Lina Bodén

On her 11th brithday Livia gets a beautiful red coat, it looks all new and you can hardly tell it is second hand. As soon as Livia puts it on she can tell that there is something special about the coat. She wears it to school to show her best friend Klara. But Klara thinks the coat is uncomfortable and doesn’t like it. Livia gets sad. They used to do everything together and like the same things when they lived next door. But now they only see each other in school.

For no particular reason Livia feels sad when going home from school and decides to go home another way than she usually does. It takes her to the cemetary and suddenly she stands in front of the grave stone of a little girl, Elin, who died a long time ago. Livia sees that the girl was only 11 years old, just like Livia is now. Livia starts wondering about the girl who had the coat before her and the little girl in the cemetary. It leads Livia back in time.. Livia’s story is not the only story we are told. The reader also gets to read Elin’s diary. And so we discover the story of the magical coat together with Livia.