Book club : ”Caesaria” de Hanna Nordenhök

The Swedish Institute launches its book club, an intimate gathering dedicated to contemporary Swedish literature. In the cosy atmosphere of our reading room, participants are invited to discuss together a notable work recently translated into French, guided by a bookseller who specialises in Nordic literature.

This first meeting will be devoted to Caesaria by Hanna Nordenhök, published in French by Éditions Cambourakis in a translation by Marina Heide. First published in Sweden in 2020, the novel won the Sveriges Radio novel prize.

In France, it is part of the first selection for the Prix Médicis 2026. Caesaria is not quite like other little girls – at least, in the eyes of Doctor Eldh.

He is the one who brought her into the world with a stroke of the blade, at a time when gynaecology was still in its infancy. Living proof of his medical feat, Caesaria must above all be protected, especially from prying eyes.

She will therefore grow up far from the world, at Lilltuna, a farmhouse surrounded by forest.

The shimmer of dew, the creaking of the floorboards, the scent of flowering shrubs or of dead animals mark out for her a closed universe, as marvellous as it is unsettling, where the passing of time seems to have stopped.

Until the day Doctor Eldh invites to Lilltuna a man with a murky past, whose brutality will shatter Caesaria's suspended life. Born in Malmö in 1977, Hanna Nordenhök is a novelist, playwright and translator.

The author of two poetry collections and five novels, she has established herself as a distinctive voice in contemporary Swedish literature. Caesaria is the first of her books to be published in French. The novel has also been translated into English, Arabic, Spanish and Polish.

This session will be an opportunity to immerse yourself in a Gothic tale about control, the power of words and of the imagination, and to meet other readers curious about Swedish literature.

The discussions will be led by Rebecca Hemmingsson, who worked for many years as a bookseller at Bokbar, the Nordic bookshop-café nestled at the very top of the lively hill of Belleville. Each participant is responsible for buying their own copy of the book ahead of the meeting.