On June 14th, 2007, the King and Prime Minister of Sweden went missing from a gala banquet at the Royal Castle. Later it was said that both had fallen ill: the truth is different. The real story starts much earlier, in 1961, with the birth of Nombeko Mayeki in a shack in Soweto.
Nombeko was fated to grow up fast and die early in her poverty-stricken township, be it from drugs, from alcohol, or just from plain despair. But Nombeko takes a different path. She finds work as a housecleaner and eventually makes her way up to the position of chief advisor, at the helm of one of the world’s most secret projects.Here is where the story merges with, then diverges from reality. South Africa developed six nuclear missiles in the 1980s, then voluntarily dismantled them in 1994.
This is a story about the seventh missile … the one that was never supposed to have existed. Nombeko Mayeki knows too much about it, and now she’s on the run from both the South African justice and the most terrifying secret service in the world. She ends up in Sweden, which has transformed into a nuclear nation, and the fate of the world now lies in Nombeko’s hands.
Jonasson introduces us to a whole cast of eccentrics: a nerve-damaged American Vietnam deserter, twin brothers who are officially only one person, three careless Chinese girls, an angry young woman, a potato-growing Baroness, and the Swedish King and Prime Minister.
Quirky and utterly unique, ‘The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden’ is a charming and humorous account of one young woman’s unlikely adventure.
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It turns out to be very difficult to dispose of a nuclear bomb that wasn't meant to exist and that you're not meant to have. A hilarious and unpredictable novel with a lovable cast of characters that blends fiction, modern history, and a wide variety of unintentional kidnappings. This is exactly the kind of novel that only Jonas Jonasson could have written, and you have to read it. - Alex (QBD)
Guest, 19/06/2018
lacks the charm of his debut novel.
The Girl Who Saved The King Of Sweden is the second book by Swedish journalist, media consultant and television producer, Jonas Jonasson. Determined not to be a latrine emptier all her life, Soweto youngster, Nombeko Mayeki uses her numerical skills and lots of hard work to advance her position. How she learns to read, ends up in possession of quite a few diamonds and later, something a whole lot more dangerous, is the story Jonasson tells in the first half of his book. It takes that long before Nombeko arrives in Sweden and quite a bit longer before she gets anywhere near the King.
Jonasson gives the reader the backstory of various major and minor characters in a series of anecdotes, some of which are quite funny. There is plenty of reference to both South African and Swedish politics (perhaps a little too much?), as well as a bit of world affairs, and generally, the plot is just as far-fetched as Jonasson’s first novel, The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared, but this one lacks the charm of his debut novel. The title is a bit misleading as, in effect, the King saves himself. There are lots of chuckles but not as many laugh-out-loud moments, and while described as uproariously funny, readers may disagree. 3 stars.
Marianne, 24/02/2015
