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The Last Piece of Art
2023, Fiction, Literary
Sofia Lundberg (b. 1974), a journalist and former magazine editor, made her debut with the word-of-mouth sensation The Red Address Book. Lauded by critics for her ability to sweep readers off their feet and take them on journeys through time and space, love and loss, Lundberg is the shining new star of heartwarming – and heart-wrenching – Scandinavian fiction.
The internationally celebrated Sofia Lundberg is known for her moving literary portraits for adult readers. With The Fight Against Nonsense, the first book in the series about Loui & Rio, she steps boldly onto the children’s books scene, making a splash with this unbridled ode to the power of imagination – and its sometime rival, scientific thinking.
Lundberg is joined by none other than illustrator Daniel “Puppet” Blomqvist (b. 1970). A Swedish graffiti artist, Puppet belongs to the first wave of graffiti artists in Scandinavia and his works have garnered great acclaim in Europe and in the US. In The Fight Against Nonsense, Puppet makes his debut as a children’s book illustrator, and the result is an explosion of color and playfulness.
Shortlisted for a Prix des Lecteurs du Livre de Poche (Best Literary) France – Den röda adressboken The Red Address Book | 2020 |
Shortlisted for the Feel Good Novel of the Year Award Sweden – Ett frågetecken är ett halvt hjärta A Question Mark Is Half a Heart | 2019 |
Shortlisted for a Prix des lecteurs Plume Libre (La Plume Romanesque) France – Den röda adressboken The Red Address Book | 2019 |
Shortlisted for the Suomalainen kirjakauppa Book of the Year Award Finland – Den röda adressboken The Red Address Book | 2018 |
Shortlisted for LovelyBooks’ Der Leserpreis (Best Fiction) Germany – Den röda adressboken The Red Address Book | 2018 |
2023, Fiction, Literary
2022, Literary
2021, Literary
2019, Literary
2018, Literary
2017, Literary
If you were to put together a piece of art from the most vital moments of your life, would the end result be a beautiful mosaic – or a hodge-podge of clutter?
“The Last Piece” truly looks unremarkable. When world-famous artist Hanna Stiltje unveils her latest artwork at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, disappointed murmurs travel through the crowd. Instead of an exquisite painting or statue like the ones she’s known for, Hanna shows the audience a dresser made of junk and scraps. But they’re not just any scraps. Piece by piece, the story behind the clutter is revealed, unfolding a gripping story of parents’ betrayals of their children and the rigid blindness of the institutions meant to protect our youngest. But even more so, of daring to not close one’s eyes in the face of misery, that love has the power to win even over blood ties, and how we ought to celebrate the bravery it takes to make a difference in someone’s life.
Which is truly more note- and praiseworthy? The act of the artist under the spotlight, or the quiet kindness of the fellow human? Sofia Lundberg shows once more her unique ability to stir questions and emotions that linger with the reader. The Last Piece of Art is Lundberg’s sixth novel.
While men have long been credited with producing the first abstract paintings, the true creator was actually a woman – Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, who was inspired by her mystic visions. Acclaimed authors Sofia Lundberg, Alyson Richman, and M.J. Rose bring her story to life in this groundbreaking novel.
Early 1900s: The world belongs to men, and the art world in Stockholm, Sweden, is no different, until Hilma af Klint brings together a mysterious group of female painters and writers–Anna, Cornelia, Sigrid, and Mathilda–to form their own emotional and artistic support system. The members of the Friday Night Club find themselves thrust into uncharted territory when Hilma and her best friend, Anna, begin dabbling in the occult, believing that through séances they can channel unseen spirits to help them achieve their potential as artists. “The Five,” as Hilma referred to them, was a group of immensely talented, fascinating women whose lives and work were cast into obscurity…until now.
The Present: Over a century later, an associate curator at the Guggenheim Museum, Eben Elliot, brings the Hilma af Klint show to New York where he uncovers questions about the Five and how the modern day art world is funded, which puts him in a precarious position both emotionally and professionally, as he witnesses how history can be manipulated.
The Friday Night Club is an illuminating historical novel that explores destiny, passion, and the threads that connect five women as they challenge artistic and societal traditions.
Imagination and such drivel is just the worst – at least according to Loui and Rio. They’re best friends who have founded a science club to make the world a little better, a little more sensible. But how are they supposed to fight imagination when it suddenly makes an appearance in reality?
One night during a club meeting, a peculiar little creature turns up, one that Loui and Rio can’t find a scientific explanation for. And the next day all the adults are suddenly looking strangely sad. The newspaper claims that a real, living dragon has appeared in town. What’s going on? Has the melting permafrost set the dragons free? Is it their poison that’s making everyone so sad?
Slowly it dawns on Loui and Rio that it’s not just dragons that have crossed the boundary of imagination into reality. A horde of other make-believe and silly monsters have come, too. Will Loui and Rio be able to stop the tide before the earth is completely overrun by nonsense?
Loui & Rio: The Fight Against Nonsense is the first book in Sofia Lundberg’s debut children’s series about Loui & Rio. A wild adventure jam-packed with craziness, it’s a loving ode to the power of imagination – and science.
Sometimes, a single day can hold a whole life.
The 12th of August 2019, Viola receives an unexpected call from Lilly, the girl next door who was once her best friend. Now they’re both in their eighties and Lilly is on her deathbed. Life separated them in their youth, but they never stopped missing each other.
Sofia Lundberg’s heart-warming and wrenching novel, Like a Feather in the Wind, chronicles Viola’s and Lilly’s lives by visiting them on the same, significant date, from the 1950s to the present. When Viola and her daughters rush to Paris to see Lilly one last time, the question that’s haunted Viola for all those years is finally answered.
Like a Feather in the Wind is a tale of undying friendship, love and jazz. It is Sofia Lundberg’s fourth novel.
Sofia Lundberg’s unforgettable debut, The Red Address Book, is one of the 20 most sold paperback titles of 2020 in Germany. The novel has now featured on Der Spiegel’s bestseller list for more than a year.
Sofia Lundberg’s irresistible debut novel, The Red Address Book, has reached a milestone age on the official German bestseller list. This month, the novel has featured on Der Spiegel’s list for one full year.
Sofia Lundberg’s A Question Mark Is Half a Heart is one of Iceland’s top sellers this summer, featuring on Eymundsson’s bestseller lists for six weeks straight and landing a No. 4 spot on the paperback list as well as a No. 5 one on the comprehensive list. Eymundsson is Iceland’s largest chain of bookstores.
Sofia Lundberg’s The Red Address Book celebrates 6 months as an official German bestseller on Der Spiegel’s lists. Lundberg’s debut novel has now entered its 26th consecutive week on the lists. Her second novel, A Question Mark Is Half a Heart, is also a long-running bestseller in Germany. It has now been a bestseller for 14 weeks.
Lina Bengtsdotter and Sofia Lundberg are officially winners in the March selection for the 2020 Prix des Lecteurs du Livre de Poche. Bengtsdotter’s debut suspense novel For the Missing was voted the winner of the ‘crime & thriller’ category, while Lundberg’s The Red Address Book won in the ‘literary’ category. They are now competing in the grand finale taking place in September.
Lina Bengtsdotter and Sofia Lundberg are both nominated for a 2020 Prix des Lecteurs du Livre de Poche in France. Bengtsdotter’s For the Missing is one of three books in the running for the ‘crime & thriller’ category’s award, while Lundberg’s novel The Red Address Book is nominated in the ‘literary’ category. Readers will have until the end of the month to vote for a finalist that will then compete in the grand finale in September.
Click the “Read more” button below to visit the ‘Prix des Lecteurs’ website.
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.”
A difficult divorce has left Esther adrift and the weekends without her son are painfully lonely. Every other Saturday she goes to an old oak tree in a meadow by the water. One day, Ruth is there waiting for her – an older lady with a wonderful ability to focus on everything that’s beautiful in life. As Ruth recounts her youth, Esther can’t help but be fascinated by her stories. An unexpected and steadfast friendship blossoms between the two women. But everything isn’t as it seems. What secrets are Ruth hiding? The search for answers takes Esther all the way to Italy and Lake Como, where she begins to see that there is far more to Ruth than she ever let on.
Sofia Lundberg’s Where the Oak Still Stands is a gripping novel about longing, guilt, undying friendship, and finding oneself again after a destructive relationship.