Percy's Story

“Amelia. I’m sorry it had to end this way. But it was the only way out.”

Literary agent Percy Alevik listens to a shocking lecture about the future of the book industry. Shortly afterwards, his assistant Amelia finds him dead at the agency. Everything points to suicide, but it’s not long before Percy contacts her in the form of letters he leaves behind. There, he gives instructions for her to seek out various people to find what he calls “my story.”

At the same time, Barbro, Emil and Sture, three people unknown to each other, receive an invitation signed “Your literary agent.” For various reasons, they accept to go to a remote manor, where they meet their mysterious agent who sends them out into the world with the mission to return with a manuscript. The dinner menu is the same as the one served on Titanic the day it sank. No one dares to refuse because none of them wants to be exposed – by the agent who seems to know everything about them and what they once did.

Percy's Story is a magnificent novel, a celebration of storytelling and all our most personal stories. It's about secrets and guilt, reconciliation and love, mysteries, and human encounters. And why books are vital. Literally.

380 pages

Reviews:

”… deserves to be both praised and read. Linguistically, stylistically, but also in terms of plot, the novel is in a class of its own … the characters’ different lives are portrayed with psychological acuity … a unique voice … Her rich prose is literary Swedish at its best.”

Overall rating: 5/5

Published in BTJ issue no. 8, 2026.

Review by Katarina Tavakol

”… a book you must read … as I have said before, her novels could be used at all universities as brilliant examples of how to write novels … an obvious choice for this autumn’s book clubs …” - Agneta Krohn Strömshed, bibbloagneta, bokbloggare