Romance
Benny & Shrimp, the bestselling "offbeat, down-to- earth love story"(The Observer, London), is now available in the United States
An international sensation, this addictively readable tale asks the question: Why is it so impossible to get a relationship between two middle-aged misfits to work? The answer lies in the story of Shrimp, a young widowed librarian with a sharp intellect and a home so tidy that her jam jars are in alphabetical order; Benny, a gentle, overworked milk farmer who fears becoming the village's Old Bachelor; and an unlikely love that should not be as complicated as it seems. Reminiscent of the works of Carol Shields, this quirky, humorous, beautifully told novel breathes new life into the age-old conundrum that is love.
Read an excerpt from Benny & Shrimp:
Who stands up for the dead?
Looks after their rights,
listens to their problems,
and waters their potted plants?
You'll have to be on your guard!
An aggrieved, single woman in a distinctly abnormal emotional state. Who knows what I might get up to at the next full moon?
You've read Stephen King, haven't you?
I'm sitting by my husband's grave, on a dark green bench worn smooth by use, and letting his headstone irritate me. It's a sober little chunk of natural stone with just his name on it—"Örjan Wallin" in the plainest of plain lettering. Simple, you might even say over explicit, just like he was. And he chose it himself, too; left instructions with the funeral director.
Just a little thing like that. I mean, he wasn't even ill.
I know exactly what message he was intending his stone to convey: Death is a Completely Natural Part of the Cycle.
He was a biologist.
Thanks for that, Örjan.
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