Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Amity Public Library | FIC AXELSSON | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
"No excuses will do anymore. Time to put my sisters in motion." Desirée lies in a hospital bed thinking, dreaming. One of the children born severely disabled in 1950s Sweden and then routinely institutionalized for life--and one of a very few to survive nearly to the century's end--she cannot walk or talk, but she has other capabilities. Desirée is an April witch, clairvoyant and omniscient, leaving her own body and traveling into the world denied her. The working-class woman who gave Desirée up at birth took in three foster daughters several years later, and even as adults they know nothing of the existence of their fourth "sister." Christina, abused by her psychotic birth mother and burdened by a sense of inferiority, is now a physician; Margareta, the onetime foundling, an astrophysicist who can never manage to complete her dissertation, is as restless and sensual as she was in her youth; and Birgitta, in her day the fastest, sexiest teen queen in town, is now a derelict alcoholic and substance abuser. In spite of her physical disabilities, Desirée possesses tremendous intelligence, and she observes the world around her with great acumen. She has developed a very special relationship with her primary care physician, Dr. Hubertsson, who realizes that she could and should know something about her own background. Unbeknownst to him, she goes on to make supernatural use of this information. Sensing that her own time is drawing to a close, Desirée also feels that one of the others has lived the life that should have been hers. One day, each of the three women--Christina, Margareta, Birgitta --receives a mysterious letter that inspires her to examine her past and her present, setting into motion a complex fugue of memory, regret, and confrontation that builds to a shattering climax. April Witchcreated a furor upon its original publication in Sweden, where it was an immense bestseller. Addressing themes of mother-daughter relationships, competition between women, and the failures of Sweden's postwar welfare state, it is foremost a thrillingly written and fascinating story.
Author Notes
Majgull Axelsson is married, has two children, and lives in Stockholm.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Desiree (meaning "desired one") Johansson is the ironically named daughter of Ella Johansson ironic because Ella abandoned her at birth. In the Swedish welfare state of the 1950s, Desiree's birth defects (cerebral palsy, epilepsy and physical deformation) meant a life in institutions. Now nearing 50, she is increasingly wracked by pain and seizures, and the only person she ever loved, her doctor, Hubertsson, is dying. But she is an April witch a weak body with a strong mind and when Hubertsson informs her of her mother's later foster children, she employs her paranormal powers of omniscience to learn about Ella, her "betrayer," and her three foster sisters, the "thieves" of the life that should have been hers. Though unable to walk or speak, Desiree follows their movements, and it is their stories that make up the bulk of this suspenseful, insightful novel. Margareta had been abandoned, while Christina and Birgitta's real mothers were abusive, and appeared irregularly in their childhoods with terrible results. The girls were separated as teens after Ella's stroke, for which difficult Birgitta is blamed: Christina and Margareta believe Ella discovered that Birgitta was the town slut, and that it nearly killed her. While Margareta has become a physicist and Christina a doctor, and Birgitta has evolved through drug addiction to alcoholism, none of them know about their other sister yet. Journalist Axelsson caused quite a stir with this novel in her native Sweden, ripping into Scandinavian conformity like a latter day Ibsen, while Americans might see some resemblance to the spirit of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Readers who made Peter Hoeg a bestseller should certainly find a place in their hearts for Axelsson. (Apr.) Forecast: Originally published in Sweden in 1997, this was a runaway bestseller and a winner of the August Prize (it's sold over 350,000 copies to date). Both Barnes and Noble and Borders are giving it special attention, and news from the independents suggests it will be a great handsell. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
This award-winning 1997 Swedish novel shapes a complex family melodrama from an entirely original premise: the "connection" between a psychic, inexplicably omniscient invalid confined to an institution and the three stepsisters in whose infinitely fuller lives she has never played a part. In fact, bedridden Desiree has never met successful professional women Christina and Margareta, nor promiscuous, alcoholic Birgitta. When a series of letters unlocks the sisters' shared and separate pasts, it is the unstable Birgitta who precipitates the story's taut conclusion-ironically fulfilling Desiree's wishes. A blockbuster, enlivened by rich characterization and irresistible narrative drive. Not to be missed.
Booklist Review
Desiree was born severely disabled, abandoned to Sweden's welfare system in the 1950s and institutionalized for most of her life. Although her body is incapable of controlled movement, Desiree's mind is sharp, and she discovers she can travel space and time, exploring the outside world through the eyes of animals and other people. Lying in her hospital bed, Desiree dreams of the life she should have had, the one she believes she deserved and that her three foster sisters had in her place. With her health deteriorating quickly, Desiree sets in motion a plan to acquire the life of one of her sisters--Christina, a doctor haunted by the abuse afflicted by her mentally unstable birth mother; Margareta, a physicist orphaned at birth and still restless and overwhelmed by feelings of abandonment; and Brigitta, the former reigning town beauty but now a miserable drunk. With compassion and honesty, Axelsson examines the power of memory, the pain of regret, the need to belong, and the disappointment inherent in longing for a life that is not one's own. --Carolyn Kubisz
Library Journal Review
This book broke all sales records in Sweden (and won an August Prize, too), but can it make it here? That's what the publisher is betting big. Axelsson's protagonist can neither walk nor talk, but she is about to connect with the foster daughters her mom has raised after abandoning her. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.