By Johana Gustawsson https://www.johanagustawsson.com/ @JoGustawsson
Translated by David Warriner https://wtranslation.ca/en/ @givemeawave
Published by Orenda Books https://orendabooks.co.uk/ @OrendaBooks
Publishing date 1 December 2023
256 pages ISBN 9781914585975
I was sent an electronic copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and the Publisher.
The cover
My initial thoughts were it’s a little dull, though I was curious about the scissors. Once I started reading, I realised how clever it is bringing out so many symbols from Norse lore and what happened in the novel.
Pete’s ponderings
I guess genre is important because it enables publishers and booksellers to place a novel where potential readers may come across it, after all we all have a favourite genre. Some readers precise in what they read and everything must be just so, as they like it, whereas others like myself are much more flexible, promiscuous readers.
Some of the best books I read recently blur the edges or even cross genres entirely. Bold writing, sometimes a little messy, but wonderfully imaginative, creativity let loose rather than being boxed in. Yule Island is one such novel. When I started reading, I was thinking it was a crime story, admittedly a dark and a little outlandish one, then it morphs into a tense psychological thriller. The final third then summons the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe and turns full on gothic horror, the pieces were there, it just took me a while to realise and slot them together, WOW, what an exhilarating denouement.
My review
Emma Lindahl is an expert art appraiser who is give a career boosting opportunity, to appraise the antiques and artefacts at an infamous manor house owned by one of Sweden’s wealthiest dynasties. She is a little apprehensive though, and rightly so as the properties is on a small island, Storholmen, where nine years ago a young woman was murdered, and the case remains unsolved.
She is working for the Gussman family, who are not particularly friendly and impose tight restrictions on where and when she can work for them. By avoiding her are they trying to elude something from the past being exposed? The deeper Emma digs the more convinced she is that there is a dark secret hidden away.
Detective Karl Rosén’s failure to solve the case returns to haunt him when the body of another young woman is found. There are clear similarities between the two cases, which also indicate a ritualistic element to the killings. A shot at redemption for Karl, but he is a man weighed down by the disappearance of his own wife.
I’m sure the prose style will get some purist’s teeth grating but ignore them. It is written in multiple first-person present tense, but for reasons I won’t elaborate upon it works perfectly and wouldn’t have the same impact in any other form. The quality of the prose itself is superb and a doff my cap to the translator David Warriner for preserving this.
The plot is dark and gets a little darker with successive reveals. Its construction is an absolute Tour de Force, being crafted for impact. There are secrets revealed throughout and just when the reader gets comfortable things are upended. To say that the storyline twists and turns is an understatement, it’s like trying to ride one of those mechanical rodeo bulls, so hang on tight. The Norse Sagas and mythology figure heavily and add context and insight into the killings, but it’s the ritualistic element that grabs the reader’s attention. Like the end the much-loved cult movie ‘The Wicker Man’ there is a moment that left me lost for words, perfect example of timing and surprise.
The setting is well used, with distinctly Swedish elements, and we get a sense of the paradox of somewhere seemingly remote but that is just a short distance from Stockholm. Relying on ferries for transport always works in thrillers, but the remoteness and the lack of vehicles on the island gives a sense of almost going back in time. There is a current murder, but it leads back to the historic one; the manor is only a hundred years old, but descriptions make it seem older, along with a smell of damp and decay. Here is an island seemingly frozen in the past.
The characters are both interesting and engaging, though several have hidden depths and secrets. The central two, Emma and Karl, work well as a pairing even though there is little chemistry between them. They are two determined individuals who wear their believed guilt and personal sorrows like heavy burdens. They both want answers so naturally gravitate. Lucas Blix professor by day and gay drag act Lulu by evening brings colour and a needed lift from the darkness. Anneli provides the love interest and an almost spiritual healing.
This for me was a two-speed read; it started slowly almost leisurely then it picks up speed like and out of control express train and I found myself tearing through the second half. Once it has you gripped it will consume your entire attention, transfixed like a rabbit in the headlights. It is a relatively short novel and I would imagine most readers will get through it in one or two sittings, the writing is that good.
As a reader I don’t do my top ten reads of the year, partly down to laziness and partly down to being too fickle and indecisive to narrow them down and stick to them. That said, this is certainly one of my best reads of the year.
Don’t bother trying to pigeonhole Yule Island just sit back, enjoy its dark, creepiness and every shocking revelation. Simply a superb modern gothic horror thriller.
Yule Island can be purchased direct from the publisher here
The author
Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently under way in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding was a number-one bestseller in France and received immense critical acclaim across the globe. Johana lives in Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.
The translator
David Warriner translates from French and nurtures a healthy passion for Franco, Nordic and British crime fiction. Growing up in deepest Yorkshire, he developed incurable Francophilia at an early age. Emerging from Oxford with a Modern Languages degree he narrowly escaped the graduate rat race by hopping on a plane to Canada – and never looked back. More than a decade into a high-powered commercial translation career, he listened to his heart and turned his hand to the delicate art of literary translation. David has lived in France and Quebec, and now calls beautiful British Columbia home.
Don’t forget to check out the other amazing reviews on this Blog Tour:
Peter turns the page 