Samurajsommar

"For an outsider, a summer camp in the countryside might seem idyllic. But for Kenny it’s no more than a prison camp, guarded by the Old Woman who is sometimes helped by her terrifying adult son, Christian.

The last summer at the camp is a summer when everything is changed. Together with his samurai group of friends, Kenny continues to build his secret: the castle in the forest which will end up as a real samurai castle. The group consists of Kenny himself, whose real name is Tommy, but he has given himself a new name after the Japanese word for sword. There is the little fat boy, Sausage, who dreams of showing how brave he is. There is Lennart, who doesn’t have a mum and never gets sunburnt. There is Janne, who doesn’t have a mum or a dad and will be moving to a foster home when the summer is over. There is wiry Micke, who looks like a gnarled tree trunk and might not be reliable. They are all good warriors, except for Sausage who is good in another way.

But this summer, Kenny discovers Kerstin too, a tall and fast-moving girl who is easy to talk to. Should he show her his secret, and what will the other warriors say if he does? One day, Kerstin runs away. Something has happened. Something terrible. And everything points to the Old Woman and Christian being involved."

"This was a place for poor people. You could tell by talking half a minute with anybody at all here. You only had to look at the mums and dads who came to visit once a summer, if they came at all."

Åke Edwardson’s first book written for children is a dark and exciting description of Kenny, a Swedish samurai, spending his last summer in a children’s camp that no child should have to stay at. Samurajsommar/Samurai Summer is the first part of a planned trilogy – a second part, Drakmånad/Month of the Dragon, will be published next year – without a doubt, this is the novel of the year 2005 in Swedish children’s literature.

Translations rights sold to Germany, Norway, Finland, Estonia and Turkey.

Press voices:

“Edwardson makes use of exactly what is required to achieve the effects he wants. This is an extremely well-written book which tells us a lot about adults, about resistance and about the ability of one’s imagination to help one survive in difficult situations. In that respect, Edwardson is in good company and his first book written for young adults is definitely the best I have read this year.”  Jan Hansson, Svenska Dagbladet

“Samurajsommar is in that border country where readers – young people as well as adults – can nowadays share books. Edwardson has wanted to do much more than simply amuse. /—/ Samurajsommar is the first work in a planned trilogy. I am looking forward to the next book.”  Regine Nordström, Smålandsposten

“The Samurai game is a boys’ game and the gang of course consists only of boys. But Åke Edwardson is not as one-eyed as many of the writers who have described boys’ games that we have read. Here are Kerstin and Ann who have individual qualities such as strength and courage, but are also representatives of the mysterious female sex. There is an interesting discussion about how girls become
young ladies, and how it can be possible that the ‘old bag’ was once a girl too. There is also a little boy’s tender longing for his mother who lets him down and disappears.”  Hervor Svenonius

“For a long time, the boys’ world seems to be on the verge of going over the edge, and you wonder whether it will degenerate like in Golding’s The Lord of the Flies. But no. The way children can turn evil is not what Edwardson is interested in. He is more concerned with the source, the malevolence and lack of empathy of the adults, and he describes this with the same dramatic emphasis as his British colleagues. /—/ Åke Edwardson has promised us that Kenny will live on in a further two books. I hope he will keep that promise.”  Cecilia Nelson, Göteborgs Posten

“Edwardson is skilful. He knows which strings he should pull on, and throughout the story the injustices of society are bubbling away – poverty, abandoned children and problem-parents who don’t take responsibility. But in the same way that he gives a voice to his unjust society, he describes Kenny’s vague age between childhood and adulthood, with a warmth that is unusual for him when he comes close to Karin in the camp. Their growing friendship and understanding for each other is one of the most beautiful elements of the book.”  Sune Johannesson, Ystads Allehanda

“In addition to Kenny’s enthusiasm for the life and rituals of Japanese warriors, expressing above all a longing for a life of free self-determination, it is the intense atmosphere that characterises this book by a Swedish writer whose crime novels, meanwhile, have to be counted among Germany’s best. The former journalist succeeds from the start in creating a secretive and mournful atmosphere. Looming disaster is in the air right from the start (...) A book with a lot of subtext that has to be deciphered. As in any well-written crime novel.”  Datenbank

“The successful crime novelist Åke Edwardson builds up his first book for young adults into an exciting thriller. The atmosphere gathers into a black thundercloud, and when the discharge comes you want to both cry out and breathe a sigh of relief. (---) There are other aspects that make this book exceptionally worth reading. We learn how the aggressive Kenny, who sometimes strikes without reason, manages, through his own efforts (and some help from the unterrified Kerstin, whom he falls in love with) to approach his ideal; the calm and mentally powerful samurai. Edwardson paints a different picture of a boy seeking a manly identity that encompasses traditional values, empathy and a readiness to help others.”  Christine Lötscher

“Samuraisommer is a typical novel for young adults. Since the youths – like so often in Swedish books – are alone, they have to bring themselves up, find their own way through life, and see the adults as helpless bunglers who always let them down. This view of growing up is something you come across more and more in Swedish books.

Åke Edwardson calmly, but with plenty of sympathy, tells the story of the summer camp from Tommy’s perspective. We get a view of what it means to be forced to stand up for yourself at this camp. (...) The depiction of this young boy is the unique thing about this book: Samuraisommer could almost be described as a character study.

The fact that I read the last 80 pages of this book lying in bed until half past midnight, despite being dead tired, shows how powerfully captivating it is.

Like a spider slowly weaving its web before at some point giving it a pull, Samuraisommer is a book for all adults and young adults (from 12/13 years old) who dream of becoming a cowboy, an Indian, a professional football player, or an astronaut. Because on the one hand, the book deals specifically with these dreams, but on the other hand it also deals with how real life is sometimes so difficult that you can only endure it with help of such dreams.“  Ulf Cronenberg