Maria Gripe (1923–2007)

Tordyveln flyger I Skymningen (roughly translated to “The Dor beetle flying in the twilight”) is a Swedish YA book written by Maria Gripe, one of, in my opinion greatest YA author ever. She has written Agnes Cecilia – En sällsam historia which is my favorite YA book of all time.

This is the first time I listen to the book (well 90% of the book, I read the ending) and it was a great joy to do so since the book actually from the beginning was a summer serial in the radio that later got published as a book.

The story in the book is about three young children, David, Annika, and Jonas. They are watering the plants in the Selanderska estate when they by accident (or fate?) find letters written by a young girl living in the 1800 century. By reading the letters, they discover a tragic love story and also that a 3000-year-old Egyptian statuette may be hidden somewhere in the village Ringaryd where they live.

This is a good story to listen to, it has a fast pace and it’s intriguing to listen to because it is always something going on something you want to know. I wanted to know what was going on even though I have read the story before. Well, I hardly remember the story so that may be a big reason why I couldn’t stop listening/reading the book.… (more)