Gertrud
ORIGINAL TITLE: Gertrud
NUMBER OF PAGES: 279
AUTHOR: Moa Gammel Ginsburg
ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Piratförlaget
GENRE: Fiction
Gertrud’s husband is chasing Hollywood success. His friends and their wives are making appearances at the golf club, yelling at assistants, drinking someone else’s champagne, smiling brightly at housekeepers and big-shots. Gertrud is simply there. Almost habitual, she sees herself through the eyes of others. Her marriage is torn by previous trauma when she meets Erwin. She likes how she sees herself through his lens. And suddenly, she is no longer the passive muse. She is a whirlwind – or is she really something swept up by his tornado? Just like she, years before, was swept up by the famous author, the master of auto-biographical novels?
It’s the American dream: shining, glistening, filthy. It’s a tale of passion, destruction and power. Moa Gammel Ginsburg’s debut novel is the ultimate elevated page-turner, inspired by Hjalmar Söderberg’s 1907 play with the same name, for readers who loved Normal People, My Dark Vanessa and Blonde.
Reviews
"The fact that Moa Gammel Ginsburg fronted the Swedish movement, and also labeled her debut a #metoo-novel, might bring expectations of getting to read about filthy events in showbiz. There is a sex-scene involving a bottle of champagne shoved somewhere that illustrates the complex sexual grey area. The scene could very well lead up to a big fat feminist revenge, but the author lets it slide as means of reflection.
And so, her Hollywood-Gertrud becomes a depiction full of insight of the hardship of women trying to navigate a world ruled by men, where beauty, duplicity and vanity are conventional tools to make one’s dreams come true."
Aftonbladet
"Gertrud is about power, ambition, and the strength to control your own faith. It's a classic theme, really about finding your identity, but Moa Gammel Ginsburg manages to shed a new light on the question with the Hollywood scenes in the background and the fight of a fascinating woman in the foreground. The result: a novel that spark flames."
Icakuriren
Endorsements
"When I received the manuscript for Gertrud I was immediately struck by the presence and tension in Moa Gammel Ginsburg’s writing. As a reader, you are drawn into a novel filled with nuances and complex relationships. To the men in the book, Gertrud is a muse and a decorative object but all she wants is to be acknowledged as a person in her own right. The destiny of Gertrud is truly a remarkable story about power and passion. It’s also a story that will stay with you for a long, long time."
Sofia Brattselius Thunfors
Publisher
