A SUNDAY TELEGRAPH AND GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEARWINNER OF SWEDEN'S AUGUST PRIZEWINNER OF THE
WARWICK PRIZE FOR WOMEN IN TRANSLATION SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE 'Osebol
is a magnificent success it is hard to imagine it better ... Kapla is a magician ...
mesmerizing' Sara Wheeler TLS 'A simple pared-back and down-to-earth masterpiece' James
Rebanks 'We listen to them like something caught on the wind ... so moving and so strangely
beckoning' Nicci Gerrard Observer '[Among] the year's most pleasing books' Rishi Dastidar
Guardian Books of the Year 'Engrossing and humbling and quietly revelatory' Max Porter
'Fascinating ... I was riveted' Lydia Davis 'Like standing outside an open window on a warm
summer evening and listening to a piece of contemporary history' Länstidningen 'What a
wonderful book . . . You want to move into it' Expressen Near the river Klarälven snug in the
dense forest landscape of northern Värmland lies the secluded village of Osebol. It is a quiet
place: one where relationships take root over decades and where the bustle of city life is
replaced by the sound of wind in the trees. In this extraordinary and engrossing book an
unexpected cultural phenomenon in its native Sweden the stories of Osebol's residents are
brought to life in their own words. Over the last half-century the automation of the lumber
industry and the steady relocations to the cities have seen the village's adult population fall
to roughly forty. But still life goes on heirlooms are passed from hand to hand and memories
from mouth to mouth while new arrivals come from near and far. Marit Kapla has interviewed
nearly every villager between the ages of 18 and 92 recording their stories verbatim. What
emerges is at once a familiar chronicle of great social metamorphosis told from the inside
and a beautifully microcosmic portrait of a place and its people. To read Osebol is to lose
oneself in its gentle rhythms of simple language and open space and to emerge feeling like one
has really grown to know the inhabitants of this varied community nestled among the trees in a
changing world.
