Sometimes all it takes is a delayed train and a stranger for life to take a new direction — and it's exactly that feeling that makes Aunts on the Train a book recommendation I want to share with you.
Cina and Sollan are headed in the same direction but live completely different lives: the stressed principal Cina misses her fast train and is forced to take the slow train home to Gothenburg, and in the seat next to her sits Sollan, carrying a letter and a message she hasn't yet had the strength to take in. What starts with some nasty comments and a long train delay becomes, over lukewarm coffee and shrimp sandwiches in the restaurant car, a conversation about love, grief and courage — and a friendship neither of them could have imagined.
Behind the book is Jessica Devert, journalist from Gothenburg who, after twenty years as a freelance writer, published his first feel-good novel in 2021, The diary I never wrote, and has since become something of a leading figure in the genre in Sweden — she has so far released around twenty books, ranging from children's books to biographies. If you want to continue in her world, there are, among others, the Katthotellet vid kusten series, which takes place in a small fishing village on the west coast and weaves in family, betrayal and women's history, as well as the Sardinön books that she writes together with her sister Annika Devert.
Grannies on the train feels like a perfect Sunday book — cozy, warm, and with a question worth pondering: how many encounters in your own life have started just like that — in a queue, on a plane, at a pier — and turned into something you never expected?
Bring a mug of your favorite tea, a blanket, and put your phone in airplane mode for a while.
If you're longing for an unexpected friendship right now — this book is for you. 🩷
A forward push from me,
Maria