The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
Written with the same light-hearted satirical voice as Jonas Jonasson's bestselling debut novel, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden is another picaresque tale of how one person's actions can have far-reaching - even global - consequences.
On June 14th, 2007, the King and Prime Minister of Sweden went missing from a gala banquet at the Royal Castle. Later it was said that both had fallen ill: the truth is different. The real story starts much earlier, in 1961, with the birth of Nombeko Mayeki in a shack in Soweto. Nombeko was fated to grow up fast and die early in her poverty-stricken township, be it from drugs, from alcohol, or just from plain despair. But Nombeko takes a different path. She finds work as a housecleaner and eventually makes her way up to the position of chief advisor, at the helm of one of the world's most secret projects.
Here is where the story merges with, then diverges from reality. South Africa developed six nuclear missiles in the 1980s, then voluntarily dismantled them in 1994. This is a story about the seventh missile ... the one that was never supposed to have existed. Nombeko Mayeki knows too much about it, and now she's on the run from both the South African justice and the most terrifying secret service in the world. She ends up in Sweden, which has transformed into a nuclear nation, and the fate of the world now lies in Nombeko's hands.
Jonasson introduces us to a whole cast of eccentrics: a nerve-damaged American Vietnam deserter, twin brothers who are officially only one person, three careless Chinese girls, an angry young woman, a potato-growing Baroness, and the Swedish King and Prime Minister. Quirky and utterly unique, The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden is a charming and humorous account of one young woman's unlikely adventure.
About the Author
Jonas Jonasson was a journalist for the Expressen newspaper for many years. He became a media consultant and later on set up a company producing sports and events for Swedish television. He sold his company and moved abroad to work on his first novel. Jonasson now lives on the Swedish island Gotland in the Baltic Sea.
Paperback | 432 pages
129 x 198 x 32mm | 400g
14 May 2014
HarperCollins Publishers
FOURTH ESTATE LTD
London, United Kingdom
English
0007557906
9780007557905
Condition: Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover, including minor scuff marks and creasing, but no holes or tears. The majority of pages are undamaged, with very minimal creasing, but no tearing. No pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages.