Publishers Weekly
12/20/2021
Ramqvist (The White City) skillfully blends a story of survival with an autofictional meditation on womanhood. It begins with an obsession. In 1541, Marguerite de La Roque accompanies her male guardian, a man of connections, on an expedition to the New World. En route, though, Marguerite is abandoned on an island in the North Atlantic as punishment for supposedly sleeping with a crew member. In the present day, Karolina Ramqvist, a writer and mother of three, hears the legend of the Bear Woman, about how Marguerite survived the wild animals and the wilderness on the island. As Ramqvist begins looking through historical archives, a winding research and writing process ensues, nonlinear in its progression and punctuated by the fear and self-doubt plaguing Karolina in her mission to unearth the truth of what happened to Marguerite. Insightful in her observations and sharp with her prose, the author explores parallels between Marguerite’s experiences and Karolina’s, as the protagonist contends with the demands of motherhood. It adds up to a careful study of a woman’s writing life. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
The ghostly Scandinavian setting and [protagonist] Karin’s closely narrated sense of impending doom, baby cooing patiently at her hip, make Swedish star Ramqvist’s English-language debut an atmospheric and suspenseful read.” —Booklist
“The White City is rich in language and ambience. Moody, mysterious, maternal and magnetic . . . it is a haunting novel of a woman adrift yet firmly attached to romantic memories of her lover and the simple needs of her daughter . . . Ramqvist is a serious contender for the Swedish literary limelight.” —Shelf Awareness
“The White City is the first novel I have read that follows the adventures of a dyad, a character with two bodies not one, a mother, Karin, and her nursing, still speechless infant, Dream. Ramqvist’s acute rendering of embodied sensual experience combined with her evocation of her double character’s increasingly desperate circumstances create a story of high tension, startling insights, and lasting resonance.” —Siri Hustvedt, author of The Blazing World
“Ramqvist crafts a story of sparse detail that moves at a rapid pace . . . This page-turner shows one young woman’s struggle to face harsh realities.” —Susanne Wells, Library Journal
“Though the plot of Ramqvist’s English debut may make it sound like a crime thriller, the pace is lulling, the writing sensuous and patiently observed . . . the book feels, more than any thriller, like an allegory of parenting . . . Delicate and unsparing.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Full of suspense and beautifully written dreamlike sequences . . . [The White City] will have a lasting impact on readers.” —Publishers Weekly
