A wildly picaresque new novel from Jonas Jonasson, author of the internationally bestselling The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
In a tiny shack in the largest township in South Africa, Nombeko Mayeki is born. Put to work at five years old and orphaned at ten, she quickly learns that the world expects nothing more from her than to die young, be it from drugs, alcohol … die young, be it from drugs, alcohol or just plain despair. But Nombeko has grander plans. She learns to read and write, and at just fifteen, using her cunning and fearlessness, she makes it out of Soweto with millions of smuggled diamonds in her possession. Then things take a turn for the worse . . .
Nombeko ends up the prisoner of an incompetent engineer in a research facility working on South Africa’s secret nuclear arsenal. Yet the unstoppable girl pulls off a daring escape to Sweden, where she meets twins named Holger One and Holger Two, who are carrying out a mission to bring down the Swedish monarchy . . . by any means necessary. Nombeko’s life ends up hopelessly intertwined with the lives of the twins, and when the twins arrange to kidnap the Swedish king and prime minister, it is up to our unlikely heroine to save the day—and possibly the world.
In this wild romp, Jonasson tackles issues ranging from the pervasiveness of racism to the dangers of absolute power while telling a charming and hilarious story along the way. In the satirical voice that has earned him legions of fans the world over, Jonasson gives us another rollicking tale of how even the smallest of decisions can have sweeping—even global—consequences.
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What a hilarious book! The story twists and turns and will leave you smiling or laughing out loud. Don’t expect it to be realistic and you will be entertained.
Jonas Jonasson has a great and unique style that draws you into the story and the characters
Quirky characters in bizarre situations that somehow become plausible in Jonasson’s styllistic words, with unpredictable results make you smile.
I promptly got another book by this author. Lots of fun, even if wildly unlikely. Let’s hear it for the underdog!
So much fun. I love all his books
A completely implausible, witty and charming romp across South Africa and into the Swedish countryside. The characters are lightly drawn caricatures are all brought together in something like a Feydeau farce in the last chapters. The whole creation could not be more delightful!
This is without a doubt the most entertaining and original book I have read in a long time
Parts of the plot were very complicated and I would have to go back and reread sections to understand what was going on. I would have edited a lot out of this book. It is well written and the story is very interesting but it started to drag about 3/4 of the way through. I liked the ending and the characters were interesting.