The Drowning Read Free Page B

, and Strömstads Tidning – they’re all here. None from the national newspapers, but that’s all right, considering today’s rave review in Svenska Dagbladet .’
    ‘A review?’ said Christian as he was escorted to a small dais next to the stage where he would talk to the press.
    ‘I’ll tell you later,’ said Gaby, pushing him down on to a chair next to the wall.
    He tried to regain some control of the situation, but he felt as if he’d been sucked into a tumble drier with no possibility of escape. The sight of Gaby already on her way out, leaving him behind, merely reinforced that feeling. Assistants were dashing about, setting the tables. Nobody paid any attention to him. He permitted himselfto close his eyes for a moment. He thought about his book, The Mermaid , and all the hours he’d spent sitting at the computer. Hundreds, thousands of hours. He thought about her, about the Mermaid.
    ‘Christian Thydell?’
    A voice roused him from his reverie and he looked up. The man standing before him was holding his hand out and seemed to be waiting for him to respond. So he stood up and shook hands.
    ‘Birger Jansson, Strömstads Tidning .’ The man set a big camera bag on the floor.
    ‘Oh, er, welcome. Please have a seat,’ said Christian, not sure how to act. He looked around for Gaby, but caught only a glimpse of her shocking pink outfit, fluttering about near the entrance.
    ‘They’re really putting a lot of PR behind your book,’ said Jansson, looking around.
    ‘Yes, it seems so,’ said Christian. Then both of them fell silent and fidgeted a bit.
    ‘Shall we get started? Or should we wait for the others?’
    Christian gave the reporter a blank look. How should he know? He’d never done anything like this before. But Jansson seemed to take the whole situation in his stride as he placed a tape recorder on the table and switched it on.
    ‘So,’ he said, fixing Christian with a penetrating gaze. ‘This is your first novel, right?’
    Christian wondered whether he was supposed to do more than confirm this statement. ‘Yes, it is,’ he said, clearing his throat.
    ‘I liked it a lot,’ said Jansson in a gruff tone of voice that belied the compliment.
    ‘Thank you,’ said Christian.
    ‘What did you intend to say with this novel?’ Jansson checked the tape recorder to make sure it was recording properly.

    ‘What did I intend to say? I don’t really know. It’s a novel, a story that I’ve had in the back of my mind and that needed to come out.’
    ‘It’s an awfully dark story. I’d almost call it bleak,’ said Jansson, studying Christian as if trying to peer inside the deepest recesses of his soul. ‘Is this how you view society?’
    ‘I don’t know if it’s my view of society that I was trying to communicate through the book,’ said Christian, searching frantically for something intelligent to say. He’d never thought of his writing in this way before. The story had been part of him for so long, inside his head, and finally he’d felt compelled to put it down on paper. But did it have anything to do with what he wanted to say about society? The thought had never even occurred to him.
    Finally Gaby came to his rescue, arriving with the other reporters in tow, and Jansson turned off his tape recorder as they all greeted one another and sat down around the table. The whole process took several minutes, and Christian used the opportunity to gather his thoughts.
    Gaby then motioned for everyone’s attention.
    ‘Welcome to this gathering in honour of the new super-star in the literary firmament, Christian Thydell. All of us at the publishing company are incredibly proud of producing his first novel, The Mermaid . And we think this marks the beginning of a long and amazing writing career. Christian hasn’t yet seen any of the reviews. So it’s with great joy that I can tell you, Christian, that today there were fantastic reviews in Svenska Dagbladet , Dagens Nyheter , and Arbetarbladet