Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's 2021 First Novel Prize
'Picaresque, gentle and slyly humorous; the glacial beauty of the northern landscape is the backdrop to arresting horrors, concealed passions, and a lifetime of kindnesses - all superbly rendered by Miller: a joy to read' Oisin Fagan, author of Nobber
In 1916, Sven Ormson leaves Stockholm to seek adventure in Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago where darkness reigns four months of the year, and where he might witness the splendour of the Northern Lights one night or be attacked by a polar bear the next. After a devastating accident while digging for coal, Sven heads north again and ends up on an uninhabited fjord living in a hut he builds, alone except for the company of a loyal dog, testing himself against the elements. Years into his routine isolation, the arrival of an unlikely visitor sparks a chain of events that brings Sven into a family of fellow outsiders and determines the course of the rest of his life.
Inspired by a real person and written with wry humour, in prose as beautiful as the stark landscape it evokes, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is a testament to the strength of human bonds, reminding us that even in the most inhospitable conditions, we are not beyond the reach of love.
Genre: Historical
'Picaresque, gentle and slyly humorous; the glacial beauty of the northern landscape is the backdrop to arresting horrors, concealed passions, and a lifetime of kindnesses - all superbly rendered by Miller: a joy to read' Oisin Fagan, author of Nobber
In 1916, Sven Ormson leaves Stockholm to seek adventure in Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago where darkness reigns four months of the year, and where he might witness the splendour of the Northern Lights one night or be attacked by a polar bear the next. After a devastating accident while digging for coal, Sven heads north again and ends up on an uninhabited fjord living in a hut he builds, alone except for the company of a loyal dog, testing himself against the elements. Years into his routine isolation, the arrival of an unlikely visitor sparks a chain of events that brings Sven into a family of fellow outsiders and determines the course of the rest of his life.
Inspired by a real person and written with wry humour, in prose as beautiful as the stark landscape it evokes, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is a testament to the strength of human bonds, reminding us that even in the most inhospitable conditions, we are not beyond the reach of love.
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"Picaresque, gentle and slyly humorous; the glacial beauty of the northern landscape is the backdrop to arresting horrors, concealed passions, and a lifetime of kindnesses - all superbly rendered by Miller: a joy to read." - Oisín Fagan
"Ceaselessly brilliant as an arctic sun, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven illuminates the very nature of human yearning and perseverance. In attempting to inhabit the uninhabitable, one man shows us that no place is inhospitable to the human heart, and in delivering this searing portrait, Nathaniel Ian Miller ascends to the firmament of today's most exciting young novelists." - Adam Johnson
"The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is pure delight. From the first page, I was transported to a world unlike any I've experienced or even read about--a bleak and unforgiving landscape where ice bears, subzero temperatures, and Sven's own worst impulses conspire against him, where loneliness and terror coexist with his growing appreciation for the flinty beauty of life. Only in such a place, I came to understand, could such a solitary man--emotionally stunted, misanthropic, self-pitying, disfigured--discover the bonds of friendship, and find family in a ragtag band of misfits. This novel's hard-won wisdom, droll humor, and offhanded insights about human nature will pierce you to the core." - Christina Baker Kline
"Ceaselessly brilliant as an arctic sun, The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven illuminates the very nature of human yearning and perseverance. In attempting to inhabit the uninhabitable, one man shows us that no place is inhospitable to the human heart, and in delivering this searing portrait, Nathaniel Ian Miller ascends to the firmament of today's most exciting young novelists." - Adam Johnson
"The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is pure delight. From the first page, I was transported to a world unlike any I've experienced or even read about--a bleak and unforgiving landscape where ice bears, subzero temperatures, and Sven's own worst impulses conspire against him, where loneliness and terror coexist with his growing appreciation for the flinty beauty of life. Only in such a place, I came to understand, could such a solitary man--emotionally stunted, misanthropic, self-pitying, disfigured--discover the bonds of friendship, and find family in a ragtag band of misfits. This novel's hard-won wisdom, droll humor, and offhanded insights about human nature will pierce you to the core." - Christina Baker Kline
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