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As a big fan of Jonas Jonasson, I was excited to get his latest book for my birthday – what I didn’t realise was how much shorter it is than his other books so far at only ~130 pages!

He explains in the opening note to readers, why he wrote this book at this time:

“The times we live in are anything but simple, with war and conflicts everywhere, and it was for this reason that I felt the urge to write something that might give us hope. I wanted to write about friendship between people from different nations. Between my Swedish compatriots, for example, and the Germans, of whom I have grown very fond in recent years. And what came out was this story about a small town in Sweden where things are difficult: unemployment, young people moving away – even the local bookshoop has had to close. It doesn’t get much worse than that! But when blue and yellow meets black, red and gold, things finally start looking up…
With this in mind, I hope you enjoy my small contribution to German-Swedish friendship. Happy reading!”

So, from the blurb:

“All over the world, people sleep blissfully in Traumbett beds. These marvellous feats of German engineering have successfully cornered the mattress market everywhere. Everywhere, except Sweden and owner Konrad Kaltenbacher Jr is desperate to expand there.
With Konrad Jr’s sights set firmly on stylish Stockholm, Julia Bäck, district councillor of the small, decaying town of Halstaholm, has plans of her own. Seeing an opportunity to attract 800 new jobs, Julia jumps into spearheading a persuasive campaign to win the contract. A roundabout is hastily renamed in honour of Angela Merkel; a German school is quickly established under the leadership of a ten-year-old boy and three elderly pensioners; and the town swimming poo is rapidly transformed into a beerhouse – it had been empty for years anyway!
Julia’s get-up-and-go impresses the German boss… but has she made herself a tricky bed to lie in?”

It didn’t feel quite as wild and wacky as his other books, probably mostly due to the length, but if you hadn’t read his other stuff, you’d definitely still think it was a bit out there!

There were a few confusing moments when the book had to specify something was said in English, since they’re translated from Swedish, clearly in the original it would have been obvious, but for us, far less so!

A couple of standout lines:

• ‘”Have you thought this through, dear?” she added.
  “No,” said the mayor. “When would I have had time for that?”‘
• ‘There’s plenty wrong with me, I will admit. Just ask the fish in my aquarium at home, he knows. Or maybe he’s a she? I have no idea. It might be better not to know; he or she doesn’t talk, anyway. Autistic, is my guess.”‘
• And just a wonderful moment when someone is requested to get a statue of Franz Beckenbauer, a famous German footballer, but none are available, so they’re just told to get another German: “It doesn’t matter who, as long as he’s famous”, so you can guess what direction that goes in….