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The Historians

A Novel of WWII

ebook
2 of 3 copies available
2 of 3 copies available

The Historians blends a fascinating historical intrigue with the quick pace and excitement of a thriller.”  — Ellen Keith, author of The Dutch Wife

“The perfect read…. Exciting and enjoyable .”  — New York Times Book Review 

The Secret History meets The Alice Network in this riveting tale of murder and conspiracy in Sweden during WWII by critically acclaimed author Cecilia Eckbäck.

It is 1943 and Sweden’s neutrality in the war is under pressure. Laura Dahlgren, the bright, young right-hand of the chief negotiator to Germany, is privy to these tensions, even as she tries to keep her head down in the mounting fray. However, when Laura’s best friend from university, Britta, is discovered murdered in cold blood, Laura is determined to find the killer.

Prior to her death, Britta sent a report on the racial profiling in Scandinavia to the secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jens Regnell. In the middle of negotiating a delicate alliance with Hitler and the Nazis, Jens doesn’t understand why he’s received the report. When the pursuit of Britta’s murderer leads Laura to his door, the two join forces to get at the truth.

But as Jens and Laura attempt to untangle the mysterious circumstance surrounding Britta’s death, they only become more mired in a web of lies and deceit. This trail will lead to a conspiracy that could topple their nation’s identity—a conspiracy some in Sweden will try to keep hidden at any cost.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 19, 2020
      Two Swedish civil servants uncover a Scandinavian WWII conspiracy in this historical epic from Ekbäck (Wolf Winter). While assisting a team overseeing Sweden’s trade negotiations with Nazi Germany in 1943, Laura Dahlgren discovers the body of her best friend, Britta Hallberg, near the University of Uppsala, where they had been graduate students five years earlier. In a parallel narrative, Jens Regnell, secretary to the Swedish minister of foreign affairs, works to help ministry archivist Daniel Jonsson fill in missing phone call records between the minister and his Danish counterpart. After Daniel is found dead of suicide, Jens becomes increasingly paranoid and gives greater credence to a thesis manuscript he received from Britta before she was killed, in which she reported on a secret agreement between Sweden, Norway, and Denmark to maintain their neutrality with Nazi Germany. After Laura’s apartment is bombed, she and Jens cross paths and discover a clue about a conspiracy that would tie Britta and Daniel’s deaths with the mysterious disappearances of Sami people near an iron mine in the far north. As they get closer to the truth, they face increasing danger. Ekbäck sets out multiple red herrings and intricate plotlines, which create tension and lead to a satisfying conclusion. This riveting novel will keep readers turning the pages.

    • Booklist

      January 8, 2021
      As WWII rages, "neutral" Sweden attempts a delicate balancing act. In practical terms, this means mining iron ore in Lapland on Black�sen Mountain to fuel the Nazi war machine. Laura works on negotiating this trade with Germany. Meanwhile, Jens, secretary to the foreign affairs minister, unpicks government threads tied to the torture and murder of Laura's friend Britta. These strands lead to a group of prewar university students in thrall to a charismatic professor, the disappearance of Sami reindeer herders on Black�sen, and a far-reaching and terrible conspiracy. The book industry is flooding us with WWII fiction, but Ekb�ck's setting and focus are unique, on Scandinavian countries' individual positions and as a bloc exploring their own eugenics theories while caught between an increasingly abhorrent Germany and fears of a brutal annexation by Russia. As in her other novels, including Wolf Winter (2016), Ekb�ck fully utilizes the fictional Black�sen as a mysterious and sinister setting. Plot twists may not be entirely unforeseen, but Ekb�ck's suspenseful prose will give fans of spy thrillers and Nordic noir a tale to sink their teeth into.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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