The Book Collector

Books are dreams on paper that take the reader where he or she needs to get to...

Twenty-three-year-old Jossan has fled her troubled past and moved to Stockholm to live life. When her savings run out, she takes a temporary job as a waitress in a tourist restaurant, but months pass and she is left behind, with no plans for the future. One day she is summoned to Tage Hallberg's funeral home - the loner Henry, the restaurant's strangest guest, has bequeathed his estate to her. The family lawyer does not know why Jossan has inherited, but he gives her a thick envelope, the contents of which are supposed to shed light on the mystery.
In the very first sentence of the letter, Henry claims to be a close relative; Jossan doesn't have time to read much more before the letter goes astray. She wants to dismiss the man's baseless claims, but that is impossible. She needs to know what's going on. To help her unravel the past, she enlists the help of Tage, but also Dante, the guy in the antiquarian bookshop she has sought out to sell some of the dusty old books she has inherited. The search for the truth leads Jossan on a winding journey of discovery and the more she learns about Henry and his life, the more transformative the story becomes.

Is everything she thought about herself and her background a lie? And is she prepared to pay the price that the truth can cost?

The Book Collector is a novel about unexpected friendship and how it is always possible to rise from the past and choose a new, brighter tomorrow.

Reviews: 

“I was hooked from beginning to end and couldn't/didn't want to stop listening... Another nice book by one of Sweden's best feel-good authors. Now afterwards I feel an emptiness and miss both plot and characters.” – Bettansboktips

"The Book Collector is yet another brilliant book by Camilla Davidsson, a novel with a lot of friction in its baggage. I am affected by Jossan's story. Gets angry, frustrated and sad. Several delightful side characters make me smile. This is by no means a happy feel-good, but a relationship novel that really touches.”  - Boktyckaren

"In The Book Collector feelgood is mixed with darker elements... The theme revolves largely around family and finding oneself... A large part of the plot also revolves around books and reading, and it's nice with the many literary references... on the whole, The Book Collector is both fine-tuned and entertaining, and Jossan's relationship with the various characters is heartwarming to read about" – BTJ

“What a gem of a read Camilla's new book is. I couldn't put The Book Collector down once I started reading, but rather I inhaled the book! - Lollos bokhörna

"It's a nice story about how life can unexpectedly take new paths and that it is possible to choose to look at things from new perspectives and dare to believe in yourself. Character descriptions are careful and give the characters both life and special quirks. There are several side stories that all play into the main story and are important to the overall story. Dante's mother's story, Henry's parents' youth and first love, and Jossan's own experiences, for example.

I appreciated the novel very much and read in an interview with the author that the story is inspired by a real event. That makes it even more exciting.” - laslustan

"An easy-to-read book that draws you in right away and keeps you hooked until it's finished. A feelgood but perhaps even more of a relationship novel. About family ties, guilt and how we learn to live with both sadness and regret. About loneliness and community and about hope. How do you move forward and how do you deal with what you need to get rid of?
Nice character descriptions and they feel real and alive.

I wish I could follow Jossan in more books.” - Mias bok