1794

1794 The City Between the Bridges

Cardell & Winge #2

The year is 1794. A mother mourns her daughter, killed on her wedding night. When no one will listen to her suspicions, she begs the aid of the only one left: a one-armed watchman grieving his dead friend. In a hospital on the outskirts of the same city, Stockholm, a young nobleman agonizes over the horrific crime he is accused of.

In The City Between the Bridges, the second installment of Niklas Natt och Dag’s historical noir trilogy, the reader is reunited with Mickel Cardell, Anna Stina Knapp, and the bustling, rotten world of the late 18th century. Stockholm is about to see its darkest days yet as veneers crack and the splendor of old gives way to the darkness hiding in the city’s nooks and crannies.

“Utterly irresistible.”
–Malin Persson Giolito

Awards

The Mystery Writers of Japan Award (Best Translated Mystery Fiction) Japan 2023
Shortlisted for the Storytel Awards (Best Fiction) Sweden 2019
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Reviews

  • “Mysteries don’t come much rawer than Natt och Dag’s gut-wrenching and moving page-turner, his second featuring Stockholm watchman Jean Michael Cardell /…/ Natt och Dag expertly combines fully realized, flawed characters with vivid period detail. This tale of the cruelties that people are capable of inflicting on each other will leave few readers unshaken.”

    Publishers Weekly *Starred & Boxed Review*, US

  • “Historical crime does not get much better than this.”

    ★★★★★

    Jyllands-Posten, Denmark

  • “Niklas Natt och Dag is a remarkable writer in every way. /…/ He writes cruelly, Gothically and well; he portions out his extensive historical research with finesse and cheeky contemporary metaphors, and he knows how to entertain at the same time as he’s educative and challenging.”

    ★★★★★

    Berlingske, Denmark

  • In this ambitious trilogy, Niklas Natt och Dag combines an 18th century thriller with historical social realism. The first two volumes are grimly gripping and incredibly well-written. /…/ The novels have many terrifyingly precise details, and also long, almost essay-like passages, which are quite obvious due to in-depth research. In addition, the prose itself is really magnificent, historical and nuanced, and the author really understands, which is perhaps the most important, how to write in scenes. /…/ Natt och Dag is a definite master of that sort.

    Weekendavisen, Denmark

  • “It is terrifying – and frighteningly good.”

    Dagens Nyheter, Sweden

  • “As in his debut, the reader is immediately sucked in to Niklas Natt och Dag’s The City Between the Bridges. /…/ The plot is skillfully constructed, just like last time.”

    Göteborgs-Posten, Sweden

  • The City Between the Bridges is a wonderfully misanthropic portrait of suffering from a bygone Stockholm, and violently thrilling.”

    BTJ, Sweden

  • “Niklas Natt och Dag spellbinds readers with his 18th century depiction. /…/ What makes one keep reading is the highly moral story set in this morally decayed world which Niklas Natt och Dag portrays. In the midst of all that darkness, there remains a fluttering light to guide you.”

    Gefle Dagblad, Sweden

  • “Niklas Natt och Dag still knows how to affect with his protagonists, and the harsh road that life has set out for them. /…/ There’s good reason to look forward to 1795.”

    Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden

  • “This is a novel you’ll read for the peerless prose (that will transport you to a completely different time, yet make that era feel oh-so tangible) and because the story, though it’s one of the vilest I’ve ever read, is utterly irresistible.”

    Vi Läser, Sweden

  • “You find yourself propelled forward. By the plot, but also by the beautiful prose and the fantastic milieu depictions.”

    DAST Magazine, Sweden

  • “I can’t get enough [of The City Between the Bridges]. /…/ [The City Between the Bridges’] greatest entertainment value lies in the depiction of the era, almost documentary in its level of detail, not to mention the prose. A counterpoint to the darkness that all the characters face, is the light that comes shining through in the form of the narrative […] [it’s] close to poetry. At times amongst the most beautiful I’ve ever read.”

    Södermanlands Nyheter, Sweden

Author
Photo: Gabriel Liljevall Niklas Natt och Dag
Published
2019
Genre
  • Literary
Pages
508
Reading material

Swedish edition

Rights sold

Arab World, Aser Al-Kotob

Brazil, Intrínseca

Bulgaria, Uniscorp

Canada, Simon & Schuster

Catalonia, Proa

Croatia, Fraktura

Czech Republic, Argo

Denmark, Gutkind

Estonia, Eesti Raamat

Finland, Johnny Kniga

France, Sonatine

Germany, Piper

Greece, Metaixmio

Iceland, Forlagid

Italy, Einaudi

Japan, Shogakukan

Latvia, Zvaigzne ABC

Netherlands, Prometheus

North Macedonia, Artkonekt

Norway, Cappelen Damm

Poland, Sonia Draga

Portugal, Suma de Letras

Romania, Litera

Russia, Ripol

Slovakia, Tatran

Spain, Salamandra

Sweden, Forum

Türkiye, Dogan Egmont

UK, John Murray

Ukraine, Ranok

US, Atria

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