The official bestseller lists for week 42 (October 14th-20th) see a couple of new arrivals claim spots in the top fives. One of them is Simona Ahrnstedt’s just published Just a Little More, which comes in at No. 2 on the e-book list. Meanwhile, Stefan Ahnhem’s X Ways to Die appears in three categories, coming in at No. 2 in audio, No. 3 in hardcover, and No. 4 in e-book. Niklas Natt och Dag’s 1794 features on multiple lists as well, coming in at No. 3 in e-book and No. 4 in hardcover.

In the paperback category Lars Kepler claims another top spot this week, appearing at No. 2 with Lazarus. The No. 5 spot on the list goes to the new arrival Dead of Winter by Anders de la Motte.

Jørn Lier Horst nabs two spots on the official Norwegian bestseller lists for week 42. His Ill Will comes in at No. 4 in hardcover, and Operation Radius, Horst & Hans Jørgen Sandnes’ sixteenth Detective Agency No. 2 book, is No. 5.

Ernst De Geer is an up and coming director lauded for his stylistic short films, and currently directing his first full length feature, Hypnosen.

His acclaimed short film The Culture was a big festival hit, winning numerous awards including Vimeo Staff Pick Award at the Palm Springs Short Film Festival 2019, Grand Prix Student Short at Angers Premiers Plans Film Festival 2019, and ‘Best Norwegian Short’ at Bergen International Film Festival 2018. It was also nominated for the prestigious Amanda Award for ‘Best Norwegian short film’.

In 2018, De Geer was chosen for the Swedish Film Institute’s “Wild Card” project with his film Hypnosen, which he then continued to develop together with producer Mimmi Spång at Garagefilm International.

Niklas Natt och Dag’s 1794 doesn’t budge from its place at the top of the hardcover bestseller list in Sweden, coming in at No. 1 for the fourth week in a row. 1794 is also No. 3 on the audio list, as well as on the e-book list. Stefan Ahnhem joins Natt och Dag on the e-book list, coming in at No. 2 with his X Ways to Die. Ahnhem is also No. 4 in hardcover. The paperback list’s No. 1 spot goes to Lars Kepler and Lazarus, which has now featured at the top for four weeks straight.

On a barren plot of land three hours north of the Norwegian capital lives Tormod Blystad, his wife Siv, and their two children. Having left his wild years behind him, Tormod is now a dependable and trustworthy family man. But, as in every family, some spaces have yet to be filled. Cue the arrival of Snusken, the new family dog. When Snusken dies, she leaves behind a vacuum that must be filled. And so one night, Tormod finds himself in front of the pug mill in the garage, mixing red clay and fertilizer. Unknowing to him, his efforts will trigger powerful forces of which he does not yet know the scope.

Matias Faldbakken’s We Are Five is a sharply observant, unconventional and entertaining novel, blending adventure, horror, mythology and science fiction with a hefty dose of raw realism. As unique as Faldbakken’s art, it displays an authorship with an inimitable point of view and ability to execute it.

The Friday Night Club is the title of the upcoming collaborative novel featuring the five bestselling authors Sofia Lundberg, Lucinda Riley, Alyson Richman, Tracy Rees, and M J Rose. Inspired by a recent blockbuster Guggeinheim exhibition, The Friday Night Club is set in Stockholm in the early 1900s, and is a fictionalized account of “The Five,” a group of women artists led by Hilma af Klint, who meet weekly for “artistic and spiritual sustenance.”

The project was kickstarted by US author Alyson Richman after she saw the af Klint exhibition. Af Klint was a mystic and artist, whose revolutionary abstract paintings predated the widely-regarded innovators of the movement like Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian. Yet af Klint’s work was largely ignored until she was rediscovered in the 1980s. Over 600,000 people saw the af Klint exhibition at the Guggenheim, which concluded this April and became the most-attended exhibition in the museum’s 82-year history.

The idea for the book came to Richman after she read one of the painting’s captions which said af Klint and her group would meet every Friday. “I was so struck by the beauty of this concept – five women yearning for knowledge, independence, and a deep sense of purpose in the early 1900s, that I instantly felt it would be an incredible collaborative novel,” Richman said. “One where the voices of Hilma and the other four women, who have since been banished into obscurity, could be brought to life.”

Sofia Lundberg adds: “I am proud to be part of a project that raises up some creative women who truly deserve a place in the spotlight of art history. I first learned of Hilma in 2013, when I visited the beautiful exhibition at Moderna Museet in Stockholm. I have followed her rising star ever since as her paintings travel the world. When I heard Alysons idea, I said yes right away. I felt like it was meant to be.”

The first day of Frankfurt Book Fair saw Netflix announce the production of a new series based on Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People. The series will be produced by FLX, the production company behind the adaption of Malin Persson Giolito’s Quicksand. The series will be directed by Felix Herngren, creator and director of Bonus Family. Screenwriter is Camilla Ahlgren, head writer of The Bridge and Quicksand. Executive producers will be Fredrik Backman, Neda Backman and Tor Jonasson.