Ia Genberg

Money can buy comfort, security, and freedom—but what happens when it begins to determine the value of our relationships? In Small Comfort, Ia Genberg brings together five interconnected stories populated by people whose lives are shaped by money, ambition, and self-deception. A former child star has become a struggling thief; an actor is hired to deliver a speech at a stranger’s wedding; and an estranged couple pretends to be happily married to secure an inheritance. Beneath these seemingly absurd situations lie uncomfortable questions about what people owe one another and what they are willing to sacrifice for financial gain. With sharp humour and an unflinching eye for human weakness, Genberg reveals how economic value seeps into our most intimate relationships, influencing the way we love, judge, and measure ourselves. Witty, surprising, and quietly unsettling, Small Comfort explores the strange bargains we make in pursuit of security and happiness. The English translation was longlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize.

A high fever sends an unnamed woman drifting through memories of the people who have shaped her life. When she opens an old book and discovers a message from Johanna, her former lover, the past begins to unfold through four intimate portraits of love, friendship, loss, and secrets. There is Johanna, now a famous television presenter; Niki, a friend who vanished without a trace; Alejandro, a passionate lover whose dreams collide with reality; and Birgitte, a troubled woman whose hidden pain remains difficult to understand. Each person returns with all the contradictions that made them unforgettable—and all the questions the narrator never managed to answer. In The Details, Ia Genberg explores how other people become part of our identity, leaving traces long after they have disappeared from our lives. Intimate, perceptive, and quietly moving, this slim novel asks a profound question: Do we ever truly know another person, or do we simply carry our own version of them? Winner of Sweden’s August Prize in 2022, the novel was shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.