Shame - Karin Alvtegen

Two women trapped by a past that won't let go . . .
At first sight, Monika and Maj-Britt are as different as two people can possibly be. They have nothing in common but the determination to obliterate their memories and be left alone. But when a tragic accident brings them face to face, the emotional voids at the centre of their lives threatens to engulf them and they are forced to confront the secrets and the sadness they had hoped to bury.
A suspenseful psychological thriller, Shame reveals the ordinary days of the odd and the lonely as they twist into self-destruction and holds out a glimmering hope of redemption and acceptance.

Karin Alvtegen was born in Jnkping, Sweden, in 1965 and had a varied career, including work in set design for film and stage, before she started to write. She won Sweden's most prestigious crime novel award, the Glass Key, in 2000 with her novel, Missing, and further acclaim with her next two novels, Betrayal and Shame. She is the great-neice of Astrid Lindgren (author of the Pippi Longstocking stories), and lives in Stockholm.

A brilliant portrait of a woman nearing mental breakdown . . . Alvtegen at her best.
Daily Telegraph - Susanna Yager

Alvtgren is a name to watch.
Guardian