The Distinctly Competent District Councillor — Jonas Jonasson

The charming and original story of a small, declining community's struggle to survive in the shadow of an all-consuming metropolis, from from the multi-million copy bestselling author of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

All over the world, people sleep blissfully in Traumbett beds. Marvellous feats of German engineering, and made in Hamburg, they've successfully cornered the market everywhere â€" except Sweden, which is why Traumbett's owner Konrad Kaltenbacher Jr, is desperate to expand there, and has his sights set firmly on Stockholm.

But Julia Bäck, district councillor on the small, decaying Swedish town of Halstaholm, has plans of her own. Seeing an opportunity to attract 800 new jobs, Julia jumps into spearheading a persuasive campaign to win the contract over Stockholm. A roundabout is hastily renamed in honour of Angela Merkel and adorned with black, red and gold flowers; a German school is quickly established under the leadership of three elderly pensioners and a ten-year-old boy; and the town swimming pool is rapidly transformed into a beerhouse â€" it had been empty for years anyway!

Julia's tenacity impresses the German bed boss Konrad Jr… but has she bitten off more than she can chew?

Reviews

Praise for The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared:

'A mordantly funny and loopily freewheeling debut novel about ageing disgracefully' Sunday Times

'Imaginative, laugh-out-loud … a brilliant satire on the foibles of mankind' Telegraph

'Scandi-crime's signature darkness is here dispelled by Allan Karlsson, the eponymous centenarian, who with unlikely sprightliness hops out of the window of his old people's home one afternoon … Fast-moving and relentlessly sunny' Guardian

About the author

Jonas Jonasson was a journalist for the Expressen newspaper for many years. He became a media consultant and later on set up a company producing sports and events for Swedish television. He sold his company and moved abroad to work on his first novel. Jonasson now lives on the Swedish island Gotland in the Baltic Sea.