I reviewed this book when it was first published last year. The paperback was recently published so I’m sharing the details and my review as part of the tour to celebrate the paperback publication.
Since the hardback was published last year the following has happened:
- WINNER of the Cultura’s Best Fiction Book of 2023 (France’s biggest book chain), plus Crime Fiction
- Book of the Year at seven different festivals
- High-spec signed paperback with foil and embossing
- NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER in France with seven hardback reprints and counting…
- Johana has been shortlisted for the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger
- FIRST in a new series set in Sweden – The Lidingö Mysteries
Book details
- Publication Date: 7 November 2024
- Format: Paperback
- Price: £ 9. 99
- Publisher: Orenda Books
Description
Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the
antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s
wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was
murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.
Emma must work alone, and with the Gussman family apparently avoiding
her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide?
As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields
clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.
When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters
surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate, and
memories of his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this
young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key?
Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a
chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past –
Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter…
My Review
https://everythingisbetterwithdragons.co.uk/2023/12/21/review-yule-island-by-johana-gustawsson/
ABOUT JOHANA GUSTAWSSON

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press, and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in 23 countries. A TV adaptation is currently under way in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding was a number-one bestseller in France, receiving critical acclaim across the globe, and Yule Island has won multiple awards, including Book of the Year with France’s biggest retailer, Cultura, and has been optioned for the screen.
Johana lives in Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.



