LYCKOSTIGEN – FORTUNE’S LANE

By Anna Fredriksson

Johanna lives on Fortune’s Lane. But she is neither very happy nor fortunate. As a single mum with two teenage daughters it is a daily struggle to make ends meet and she can’t help feeling jealous of her ex-husband Calle who has started a new life far away from them.
Calle has left the small town for Stockholm, where he has a successful career and a new girlfriend – the educated and sophisticated Fanny. But no matter how hard he tries he can’t seem to fit into his new environment.

Fanny is constantly defending her choice of boyfriend. Her friends won’t understand why she is with him and keep telling her that they are a bad match. She becomes more unsure. Are they right, should she leave him? Or are they just envious?

When Johanna wins the lottery, life takes a dramatic turn – for all three of them. She buys an exclusive loft apartment in Calle and Fanny’s building. It’s now Calle’s turn to take responsibility for his daughters. The three of them are forced to view themselves and each other in a completely new light.

Lyckostigen (Fortune’s Lane) is a contemporary story about class, family and love, and about three individuals, each with their own mental alienation.

First published by Forum, Sweden, 2012
365 pages

France, Denoël
Germany, Bloomsbury
The Netherlands, Querido
The Netherlands/Sweden, Grote Letter
Sweden, Forum

Just like “Sommarhuset”, this is an easy-going and readable novel, which for that matter doesn’t lack substance /…/ I like and am engaged by this book, and by Anna Fredriksson’s natural storytelling voice
Anna Rudberg-W, Östgöta-Correspondenten

Fredriksson skilfully finds the simple and genuine images from everyday life that entices the reader /…/ “Lyckostigen” is an indispensable summer read about fractured relationships, dirty realism and deep humaneness.
Elin Grelsson Almestad, Göteborgs-Posten

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