Henrik Nilsson

Books

This is a collection of short stories that take place in Lisbon with surroundings, where the writer lived for several years. 

Nätterna, Verónica was very well received by the Swedish critics, who in several cases placed Henrik Nilsson in the tradition of such contemporary masters as Antonio Tabucchi and José Saramago, as well as with short story classics like Anton Chekhov and Hjalmar Söderberg. Nilsson was especially praised for his insightful portraits of Lisbon and its everyday life. 

Synopsis

Nätterna, Verónica consists of seven different short stories from Lisbon, deeply rooted in local details but at the same time universal in their human subjects.

In “The last station”, a writer falls asleep on a train and wakes up in the evening in a town on the Portuguese countryside. It’s the beginning of a long night full of strange encounters. By a coincidence, he ends up in a nocturnal association were people gather to tell stories until the morning. 

In the title story “The nights, Verónica”, a dying man is trying to finish his work on a Portuguese explorer when he meets Verónica. Their friendship develops, and the Lisbon nights still contain surprises.

In another story, “The silence of Adriana”, a woman makes a highly unusual deal with herself, which brings consequences that are difficult to grasp. 

“The earthquake” is about a young man who is obsessed with another Lisbon, the one that existed before the earthquake of 1755. He traces it until past and present meet once again in a most unexpected and dramatic way.

   “Tankers” portrays an indebted man working in a customs clearance office, close to the river. He secretly enters the ships by the quay in the search for something …

In “Spiritual advice” a young, unemployed woman gets a temporary job answering the phone of a spiritual adviser during his holidays. One day she receives a phone call that changes everything. 

The short story “The piano in Sesimbra” was described by one critic as “a small masterpiece – an existential miniature drama about beauty, longing and pain – and a fragile life about to collapse”. An old man drives from Lisbon to Sesimbra every Saturday to listen to a piece by Chopin, played by an unknown pianist from one of the open windows. But one Saturday, the pianist is not playing anymore …

A melancholic feeling of being lost connects the characters in Nätterna, Verónica. But the estrangement does not exclude unexpected moments of togetherness and tenderness. This is a book full of poetic reflections and existential precipices, as well as poignant descriptions of everyday experience and life.

The book has been translated to Portuguese with the title Um piano em Sesimbra.

What the critics wrote about Nätterna, Verónica:

“It’s sublime. It’s beautiful. It’s brilliant”. Svenska Dagbladet

“Henrik Nilsson writes amazingly well. The prose is clear and rhythmic, the style elegant and free”. Dagens Nyheter

“The real … is that he in magic moments can make this torn and somewhat dirty surface grand, mysterious and beautiful”. Hufvudstadsbladet

“Henrik Nilsson is a full-fledged and well worth reading short story writer from the start”. Upsala Nya Tidning

“Nätterna, Verónica is an extremely pleasant acquaintance. A new book which quickly seems familiar, as the night wanderer who carries his story as a lantern in our common darkness”. Kulturnytt, P1, Sveriges Radio

“The earthquake is the short story that finally convinces me that Nätterna, Verónica is a brilliant debut”. Nerikes Allehanda

As dusk falls in the huge city by the Bosporus the long poem begins. What follows is a winding interior and exterior journey into the night and the rain. In these at the same time epic and instant pages, concrete everyday images are found alongside dark sparkling reflections which gradually creates an existential drama.

Other titles in Swedish:

Antologier

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