The idea for Lisa Ridzen's heartrending debut When the Cranes Fly South came to her through the discovery of notes her Grandfather's care team had left the family as he neared the end of his life. She was also inspired by her research into masculinity in the rural communities of the Swedish far north, where she herself was raised and now lives in a small village outside stersund. Lisa began penning the novel whilst attending L ngholmen Writer's Academy. When the Cranes Fly South was a number one bestseller in Sweden, won the overall Swedish Book of the Year, and the Adlibris prize both for Debut and Fiction of the Year - the first time in the awards' history that an author won in two categories. Rights have sold in 38 languages around the world.
This empathetic Swedish bestseller is a poignant, quietly devastating meditation on old age. * Mail on Sunday * This profoundly moving novel is sure to melt you into tears faster than a Cornetto in the sunshine ... Poignant, beautifully written and guaranteed to spark introspection. * Woman & Home * Meditations on memory and fatherhood underpin this tender tale about a man defending his right to live independently. * Financial Times * There are not many novels that I want to tell you that you should read, but this is one of them. It is a novel about family, how our history shapes our present, and the many different forms that love can take. This is a beautiful and gentle novel about an honest and relatable man who simply wants to live quietly with his dog, and I won’t ever forget it. * NB Magazine * Once you’ve read this beautiful and deeply emotional story, you’ll want to pass it on to someone you love. * Fabulous Magazine * A tender tale about ageing, our own and others, and the quiet brutality of love. About what being a man is, and what being a human is, about fathers and sons and fathers and dogs. It’s really a book for anyone who’s had to say goodbye. The kind of book you give to someone when you’re really trying to say “I’ve been thinking about you” but don’t know how. * Fredrik Backman, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove * When the Cranes Fly South really touched me... and Sixten completely stole my heart. This story felt universal and timeless – it’s about love and death and family and friendship. Everything that makes us human. * Josie Ferguson, author of The Silence in Between * This novel is irresistible. So tender and moving. It’s as if Fredrik Backman’s Ove had a love child with Åsa Larsson’s Sivving – and the result is the most wonderful thing imaginable. Read it. * Malin Persson Giolito, internationally bestselling author of Quicksand and Beyond all reasonable doubt * A powerful, sneakily emotional meditation on life and death, and the foundational relationships in our lives. This is a book that will echo in your soul. * Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain * This was a magical reading experience; among the most moving things I’ve ever read. The characters have lived on in my mind since I turned the final page, and I know this novel will always have a place in my heart. * Camilla Läckberg, No.1 internationally bestselling author *