The Chosen
Page 40
• • •
A year has passed, The Chosen is about to be published, and I am sitting here trying to come up with a sensible afterword. I don’t really have much more to say.
I have to add the obligatory disclaimer:
This story is entirely fictional.
I have even taken the liberty of inventing a completely new Jewish community in Stockholm, because I didn’t want to involve any of those that already exist.
The legend of the Paper Boy is also entirely my own invention.
I would really love to return to Jerusalem to write more books.
• • •
Because there will be more books. I feel calmer now; I no longer race through life like a sprinter. My head is already full of ideas for lots of new books.
At Piratförlaget they think I’m crazy when I keep on turning up with yet another new manuscript, but that’s fine. Dear Pirates, you have a very special place in my heart! What would have become of me if we hadn’t found each other? Thank you for continuing to publish my books, and thank you for helping me to become a better writer. Special thanks to my publisher, Sofia, and my editor, Anna. I always put that sentence in my acknowledgments, and it is equally true each time.
I also have agents, at the Salomonsson Agency. You are wonderful and you are crazy! I only have to poke my nose around the door of your office for twenty seconds, and I have enough energy to run a marathon in under two hours! I am so proud to be represented by you. Thank you for the enormous amount of effort you put into promoting my books overseas, and an extra big thank-you to my agents Jessica and Leyla.
In my personal life it is impossible to mention everyone by name; there are far too many people to thank. First of all: my wonderful, reliable friends. How do you thank so many people at once? Without you there would have been no good books, particularly in 2012. It is you who give me strength and energy, and it is mainly with you that I share my everyday life. I try to keep you as close as I can, because whatever twists and turns my life may take, you are always there.
Thank you.
And then there are my siblings, who continue to rejoice in my successes, and who are always happy to help me celebrate them. Thank you! We have found a whole new meeting place through my writing, which is terrific; I cannot tell you how much I value it.
Finally, I must express my heartfelt thanks to my mother and father: they, too, are always there. It is wonderful to have such devoted and loyal parents. Who come to the Gothenburg Book Fair every year to listen to me talking about my latest book. Who fly to Vienna to be with me when I am celebrating the publication of my books in German. And who drive right across Sweden in a blizzard when I call from the hospital in tears.
Thank you.
Kristina
Stockholm, February 18, 2013
Don't miss any of Kristina Ohlsson's critically acclaimed Fredrika Bergman thrillers
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About the Author
Kristina Ohlsson is a political scientist and, until recently, held the position of counterterrorism officer at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). She has previously worked at the Swedish Security Service, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the Swedish National Defence, where she was a junior expert on the Middle East conflict and the foreign policy of the European Union. Her debut novel, Unwanted, was published in Sweden in 2009 to terrific critical acclaim, and all her novels have since been bestsellers. Kristina lives in Stockholm.
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About the Translator
Marlaine Delargy has translated works by many writers, including John Ajvide Lindqvist, Åsa Larsson, Anne Holt, Michael Hjorth and Hans Rosenfeldt, and Johan Theorin, with whom she won the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger in 2010. She is deputy editor of the Swedish Book Review.
ALSO BY KRISTINA OHLSSON
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The Disappeared
Hostage
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Kristina Ohlsson
English language translation © 2015 by Marlaine Delargy.
Originally published in Swedish as Davidsstjärnor.
Published by arrangement with Salomonsson Agency.
Cover design by James R. Perales
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
ISBN 978-1-4767-3406-4
ISBN 978-1-4767-3408-8 (ebook)