Daughter Wanted (Dotter önskas)

Katerina Janouch

 

For Helena, thirty-something, a young woman without many demands on her, family life feels somewhat remote. But then she meets Paul and the pieces fall into place. She quickly becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son. Helena’s mother takes being a grandmother seriously. Her relatives are pleased with a first grandchild. And after the boy comes a girl – or so everyone expects. Helena becomes aware that all around her, women are having daughters. Everyone except herself, it seems.

 

When Helena quickly becomes pregnant again, something happens that changes the family’s life forever. Her mother dies quite suddenly. The tragedy causes Helena’s desire for a daughter to grow even stronger. To lose your own mother right when you’re about to become one is perhaps the most difficult challenge life can offer. Helena becomes painfully aware that she has all too few close relations with women in her life. Perhaps a little girl would help fill the emptiness. In the midst of the chaos, something unexpected happens. Helena finds her mother’s secret diary. Slowly, Helena realizes that her mother’s life was, in many ways, a mystery. Who was she, that seemingly so easy-going woman? Helena’s sense of loss and the difficulties in coming to grips with what at times is a very demanding mother’s role are combined with a desire to learn the truth. She sets off on a quest into the past. The search is a comfort, an escape and a yearning to know. But the quest for answers leads Helena to unexpected insights. Perhaps some questions are best left unanswered…

 

Daughter Wanted is a novel about a mother and a daughter, but also about fathers and about love that is anything but uncomplicated. It’s about passion, secrets in the past and fragile taboos. This is a book about loss, curiosity and longing. The longing for things we may never be able to obtain – which just makes us want them all the more.

 

378 sidor

 

Rights sold

The Czech Republic: Mlada Fronta

Sverige: Piratförlaget, Pocketförlaget

 

Reviews

“A cleverly realized idea – this will be a best-seller.”

Expressen

 

“Longing for a daughter is a forbidden emotion which is well-handled in this novel.”

Helsingborgs Dagblad

 

“I can imagine that this book will find its way into many mothers’ Christmas packages...it praises motherhood.”

Dagens Nyheter

 

“The most tension-filled tales are found between the novel and pure journalism, which is right where Daughter Wanted is found...I was captured by this story...and I care about its characters.”

Expressen

 

“Extremely gripping.”

Gomorron Sverige