FÖRAKTET – SCORN
By Marcus Jarl
ISAK IS A photographer who has retired to Stockholm after a long period in New York. His life is regimented and anonymous, and that is exactly how he wants it.
ONE DAY, HE receives the phone call he has been dreading, the one that will force him back to Motala, where he grew up. The small town where he had to hide who he was.
IT’S ABOUT EMMA. The sister he hasn’t spoken to or seen since that dark day many years ago when he left his childhood home. Isak can no longer escape the memories of who he once was, memories filled with shame and self-loathing. And everything Emma left behind.
SCORN IS A novel about a life. Marcus Jarl skillfully weaves together times and places, gathering fragments and piecing them together into a vivid portrait of a human being.
ABOUT THE BOOK
First published by Norstedts, Sweden 2026
RIGHTS SOLD
Sweden, Norstedts
REVIEWS
I read it voraciously and agonise alongside Isak over all the twists and turns and life decisions he has to grapple with. Impressively written by Marcus Jarl.
– Pekka Heino
A relevant and deeply moving novel. […] A poignant portrait of a man fleeing from himself and his past. Masterfully told, I couldn’t put it down.
– Smålandsposten
Scorn by Marcus Jarl is a novel that unsettles and lays bare. Jarl’s characters are driven by conflicting emotions, radiating both coldness and warmth. […] The stark prose mirrors Isak’s inner landscape, which gradually comes to life as he allows himself to love and be loved.
– BTJ
Scorn is a heartbreaking read that you won’t want to put down. And it also comes with a truly excellent soundtrack.
– Culte, Best of April 2026
In him returning home, and in the choices he is forced to make, something shifts. In the questions surrounding the true self of a person with dementia, of blood ties, religion, what makes a parent – and what parenthood makes of us. I am almost convinced that the answer to Isak’s inner fracture may lie in a crib.
– Göteborgs-Posten
BOOKS
Fiction
