About Maria
Maria has now been living in Sweden since 1999, where she covered Germany for various media until that day came when a sequence from one of Woody Allen’s movies provided the idea for her first novel, ”Caipirinha med Döden” (Caipirinha with Death). ”Caipirinha med Döden” was published in 2005 and was followed by ”Busters öron” (Buster’s Ears) in 2006 and "Kleopatras kam" (Cleopatra's Comb) in 2007. Her fourth novel, "Alltid hos dig" (Always with you) was released in August 2008. Maria is now a full time author. She is married and has two children. Maria Ernestam’s novels touch upon a number of
storytelling traditions. The tone is both serious and humerous, sometimes
gently ironic and well balanced by psychological double-dealing. Through
the elements of magic realism, suspense, self-irony and characterization,
her novels can be compared to works by authors such as Isabel Allende,
Fay Weldon, Ingrid Noll and Ruth Rendell. Her books have been a great
success with readers and critiques alike.
Erica, who is thirty-seven and has her own company in the advertising industry, lives together with Tom in a lovely apartment in Stockholm. They are a well-to-do couple with good jobs and good incomes and have reached the point in their lives when it is high time to build a family and have children. Prospects look good and Erica believes that she is as happy as can be expected until one night at a restaurant, Tom unexpectedly announces that he wants to take a timeout from their relationship. For Erica, this comes as a shock. She goes home and drinks herself into a state of total inebriation, only to wake up late at night when the doorbell rings. Standing outside is Death. He has made a mistake and was supposed to pick up her upstairs neighbour, but the night has been very trying and he has called at the wrong address. He does not mask his pleasure at meeting Erica instead, and in her desperation she does not allow herself to become frightened or surprised. Erica’s flirt with Death soon leads to mutual attraction and a relationship. Death is tired of his work, tired of dealing with souls and upset about genetic technology, which is changing the very essence of what he does. Condemned by Tom to a life outside the social community, Erica develops an increasingly critical attitude to the world. With Death as her ally, she greedily takes the chance to ”clean up” around her. In the commotion that follows she looses control – something she has been very careful about throughout her entire life. She begins to make mistakes, which leads to dire consequences ...
Eva, the main character of the story, is enveloped by the fragrance of flowers, since she has tended her rose garden for many years, aware that relations to flowers can be easier to deal with than relations to those closest to her ... When Eva recieves an unexpected gift on her fifty-sixth birthday – a diary – she begins to take brief nighttime excursions into a world that she had spent a long time doing her best to forget. Years that were highlighted by the constant conflicts with her beautiful but unloving and complicated mother. The little girl whose thoughts are expressed in the diary describes an oppressive childhood as well as an aching longing that is never fulfilled: that her mother will, at some point, return her love. In this callous home grows a hatred that will occupy a major portion of the young Eva’s life, a hatred that gains disproportionate strength, endows her with power and demands retribution. When Eva is seven years old, she decides to be the one who survives. This demands a strategy, and throughout her childhood, Eva trains with the aim to win. In this process she also manages to achieve something she badly needs – someone who always listens to her. When Eva is sixteen she falls in love with a British officer. In her love for John she can believe that reconciliation is possible for the first time in her life. ”Busters öron” tells about the complicated
relationship between a mother and daughter at the same time as it tells
about love, trust and betrayal. It alternates between the present and
the 1950s and 1960s, between life by the sea and life in the big city,
between the grown-up woman and the child. It is also about modern society’s
inhuman eldercare. This is a powerful and unsettling relationship drama
as well as a tender, bittersweet love story. Fredrik struggles with demons from his childhood and searches for his identity in elegant nightclubs. The son of a French musician and a Swedish man of the forest, he seeks comfort in his mother's artistry while trying to escape the demands of his father. Cleopatra's Comb is overwhelmed with success, and with
the founders' varied backgrounds, they discover they have a lot to offer
their customers - they can provide help with everything from interior
decoration to working in the garden and bookkeeping. About
"Alltid hos dig" (Always with you)
For two years she pushes her grief aside, doesn’t show her sorrow to anyone and buries herself in work. But a mean comment makes the ground open under her feet. She flees to her family’s summer house on the island of Marstrand, to get the peace and quiet she needs to find a way back to life.
By mere accident she finds an old box. It is full of papers, newspaper clips and at the bottom there is a letter, postmarked in Mombasa, Kenya 1916. This attracts Inga’s attention, especially by some cryptic lines at the end of the letter.
With an
eagerness she has not experienced for a long time, she begins her search.
To get an explanation to the letter and to get away from her own presence.
Her investigation leads her back into her family history, to an event
in the shadow of World War I. And she understands that another woman’s
fate has had more effect on her own life than she could ever have imagined.
Rights, reviews and contact Rights "Caipirinha with Death" sold to: Forum, hardcover (Sweden) Rights "Buster's Ears" sold to: Forum, hardcover (Sweden)Månpocket, paperback (Sweden) Bonnier Audio, audiobook (Sweden) eLib, e-book (Sweden) Bertelsmann/Random House (Germany) People's Press (Denmark) Schibsted (Norway) De Geus (Holland) World of Books (Russia) Nylendi (Faroe Islands) Sun Color (Taiwan) Salka (Iceland) Rights "Cleopatra's Comb" sold to: Maria Ernestam’s books are published by Forum AB, Sverige. |
Maria
Ernestam is a journalist living in Stockholm. After working with Swedish
newspapers, she studied in the United States and took her Master of
Arts Degree in Political Science. She later moved to Germany, where
she was the foreign correspondent for Swedish magazines ”Veckans
affärer” and ”Dagens medicin”. Parallel to her
carreer in journalism, Maria has worked as a model, studied singing
and dancing and performed in plays such as ”Jesus Christ Superstar”.
”Fascinating reading.”
”Suggestive, ugly and black, yet still filled with loving hope. Buster’s Ears is the kind of reading experience that stays with you for a long, long time. Simply fantastic!”
Cleopatra's Comb is the name of a company that bases its activities
on 'solving people's problems'. It is founded by Mari, Anna and Fredrik,
who have been friends for a long time and each of whom has reached a
critical point in their lives.
"An
impressive novel."