Viken The Bay
The History of the Outer Wilderness #2
When John wakes up, he is far from the cabin in the forest. Is this some kind of palace? Everything, from the bedding to the plates, is marked with the head of a wild boar. The same figure his dad has burned into his arm. The family crest of one of the wealthiest families in the realm, the Galts.
The enrollment for community service was supposed to be a routine matter. John and his mother had practiced everything. They knew the fake background story by heart, and his forged papers were indistinguishable from real ones. But still, something went very wrong.
Soon, John realizes that he has been taken to his grandparents in the isolated Bay. There is also an agreement: as long as he behaves – meaning he goes to the elite school, learns the official history of the country, and embraces the family’s virtues of domination and bullying – his family back in the Outer Wilderness will remain safe. But how long can he keep up the act? What should he do about the mysterious notes that start appearing in the oak tree outside? And what is Grandpa hiding in the basement, something that could destroy the entire state machinery?
Reviews
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“There is something about the rhythm of the language that feels genuine, perhaps best portrayed when people look for something lost and then found. /…/The ending naturally calls for a sequel. However, it’s uncertain if there will be a happy ending to the whole series. Given the striking similarities in the first parts of both books to the reckless reality we live in, I hope so. It would be nice to see ambiguous liars thrown into an existence where they don’t matter and where the word “deal” only can be used as a curse word.”
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“You can find the closest similarities to Margret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale where the life of the residents in Gilead seem to have gone back a hundred years in time. /…/ There is a slowness, or a kind of minimalism, in the book which Lundkvist has made his own. His description of how John fixes a flat tire on his bike in the darkness is elegant and unusual. Nature, trees, plants and animals, friendship, loyalty, milk and sandwiches, playing cards – the simple pleasures; yes, everything natural and simple is set against the control of the state machinery, money, lust for power, privilege, violence, slavery, punishment and technology. The Bay is certainly a kind of confined chamber play, but a very exciting one. Nils Lundkvist has really started to pick up speed and has laid the groundwork for the next part in the series.”
- Author
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Nils Lundkvist
- Published
- 2025
- Genre
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- Children’s
- Pages
- 365
- Reading material
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Swedish edition
- Rights sold
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Sweden, Bonnier Carlsen
