Quicksand

First published in 1928, "Quicksand" is the first novel by American author Nella Larsen. It is the semi-autobiographical tale of a young, mixed race woman who struggles to find her place in the world. Like her main character, Helga Crane, Larsen was the daughter of a Danish white mother and a West Indian black father who disappeared from her life as a baby. Larsen and the fictional Crane never feel that they belong in either the white world or the black world and both travel around the United States and to Europe in search for a place that feels like home. "Quicksand" is an important novel of the Harlem Renaissance and one of the few novels of its time to explore the sexual feelings of women of color. Helga is a lovely and refined woman, a complicated and nuanced character, who is searching for meaning and purpose in her life. She is also far ahead of her time as she is self-reliant, adventurous, and intent on taking her fate into her own hands. This deeply personal story of a woman's difficult search for acceptance and human connection while caught between two worlds remains to this day an insightful and thought-provoking novel. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

'The overlooked American writer who blows apart modern thinking on race' Telegraph Born to a Danish mother and a West Indian father, Helga Crane has long had to fend for herself as a mixed-race woman in the Deep South of 1920’s America. She moves to Harlem and then to Copenhagen in her search for a sense of belonging and acceptance, but wherever she goes, she cannot escape the perceptions and prejudices of others. One of the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen’s semi-autobiographical first novel is a powerful portrayal of one woman’s fractured inner life.

The orphan of a Danish mother and a West Indian father, Helga Crane is a young woman caught between cultures and in search of a home. Though her beauty and education open many doors, as a biracial woman in 1920s America, Helga is accepted by neither the Black nor the white communities--instead remaining an object of curiosity and an outsider wherever she goes. Her furious quest for belonging will take her from Chicago to New York to Denmark: a journey rife with autobiographical parallels to Larsen's own life. With its astonishingly contemporary take on identity and an angry, rebellious heroine, Quicksand is a classic novel ripe for rediscovery.

**NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES** We Need to Talk About Kevin meets The Secret History . The air is hazy and grey with gunpowder smoke. Everyone has been shot but me. I haven't got so much as a bruise.... Is Maja a normal eighteen-year-old, the poster girl-next-door, popular and excelling at her schoolwork, caught in the middle of a terrible tragedy? Or is she guilty of the tragedy itself? Either way, everyone knows her name. She has spent nine excruciating months in jail, awaiting trial for a mass murder that killed her boyfriend and her best friend, and now the time has come for her to enter the courtroom... WHAT WILL YOU BELIEVE? This is the 'compelling and brutally candid' ( Daily Mail ) story of a girl whose guilt was decided long before her trial - as searing as it is timely and moving. ***What people are saying about QUICKSAND*** Sensitive, moving and absorbing ’ Marcel Berlins, The Times ‘This is the evolution of Scandinavian crime , in more ways than one’ Fredrik Backman ' Compelling and brutally candid, especially about modern adolescence, this is not a comfortable book, but the story is so superbly told that it lingers in the mind long after the jury’s verdict ' Daily Mail ' A suspenseful and addictive experience … [Giolito] expertly delves into the fickle psyche of the media and how they can change a story’s narrative with one headline and she shames the press’s tendency to report wild conjecture over facts… Though Giolito’s perspective is Swedish, it absolutely translates to a greater global crisis ' Real Crime 'Giolito gives us the unsettling monologue of a teenage girl as she works her way through her role in murder. It is a splendid work of fiction ' Kirkus Reviews 'Gioloto’s novel is haunting and immersive' Publishers Weekly ' Mystery and intrigue in its purest form. Great book, recommended to all' Marg J., bookseller ' A fascinating, often uncomfortable, but thoroughly engrossing read' Sarah B. ‘Sweden's latest blockbuster thriller lives up to the hype ' Washington Post 'Maja [is] a heroine you will not forget , victim of a toxic love story with a background so familiar to us nowadays... a super thriller – a real page-turner ’ Mariagrazia M. 'I have never read a book by a Swedish author so when Quicksand became available I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to try. I certainly wasn't disappointed' Diane Hogg, NetGalley Reviewer 5*

'The overlooked American writer who blows apart modern thinking on race' Telegraph Born to a Danish mother and a West Indian father, Helga Crane has long had to fend for herself as a mixed-race woman in the Deep South of 1920’s America. She moves to Harlem and then to Copenhagen in her search for a sense of belonging and acceptance, but wherever she goes, she cannot escape the perceptions and prejudices of others. One of the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen’s semi-autobiographical first novel is a powerful portrayal of one woman’s fractured inner life.

The orphan of a Danish mother and a West Indian father, Helga Crane is a young woman caught between cultures and in search of a home. Though her beauty and education open many doors, as a biracial woman in 1920s America, Helga is accepted by neither the Black nor the white communities--instead remaining an object of curiosity and an outsider wherever she goes. Her furious quest for belonging will take her from Chicago to New York to Denmark: a journey rife with autobiographical parallels to Larsen's own life. With its astonishingly contemporary take on identity and an angry, rebellious heroine, Quicksand is a classic novel ripe for rediscovery.

**NOW A MAJORNETFLIX SERIES** We Need to Talk About Kevin meets The Secret History . The air is hazy and grey with gunpowder smoke. Everyone has been shot but me. I haven't got so much as a bruise.... Is Maja a normal eighteen-year-old, the poster girl-next-door, popular and excelling at her schoolwork, caught in the middle of a terrible tragedy? Or is she guilty of the tragedy itself? Either way, everyone knows her name. She has spent nine excruciating months in jail, awaiting trial for a mass murder that killed her boyfriend and her best friend, and now the time has come for her to enter the courtroom... WHAT WILL YOU BELIEVE? This is the 'compelling and brutally candid' ( Daily Mail ) story of a girl whose guilt was decided long before her trial - as searing as it is timely and moving. ***What people are saying about QUICKSAND*** Sensitive, moving and absorbing ’ Marcel Berlins, The Times ‘This is the evolution of Scandinavian crime , in more ways than one’ Fredrik Backman ' Compelling and brutally candid, especially about modern adolescence, this is not a comfortable book, but the story is so superbly told that it lingers in the mind long after the jury’s verdict ' Daily Mail ' A suspenseful and addictive experience … [Giolito] expertly delves into the fickle psyche of the media and how they can change a story’s narrative with one headline and she shames the press’s tendency to report wild conjecture over facts… Though Giolito’s perspective is Swedish, it absolutely translates to a greater global crisis ' Real Crime 'Giolito gives us the unsettling monologue of a teenage girl as she works her way through her role in murder. It is a splendid work of fiction ' Kirkus Reviews 'Gioloto’s novel is haunting and immersive' Publishers Weekly ' Mystery and intrigue in its purest form. Great book, recommended to all' Marg J., bookseller ' Afascinating, often uncomfortable, but thoroughly engrossing read' Sarah B. ‘Sweden's latest blockbuster thriller lives up to the hype ' Washington Post 'Maja [is] a heroine you will not forget , victim of a toxic love story with a background so familiar to us nowadays... a super thriller – a real page-turner ’ Mariagrazia M. 'I have never read a book by a Swedish author so when Quicksand became available I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to try. I certainly wasn't disappointed' Diane Hogg, NetGalley Reviewer 5*

A stunning and poignant autobiographical look at the myriad experiences that shape a meaningful life, by the bestselling author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries. "Surely one of the most moving and intriguing farewell notes ever written.... Intensely beautiful in its spirit." --Alexander McCall Smith, New Statesman In January 2014, Henning Mankell received a diagnosis of lung cancer. Quicksand is a response to this shattering news--but it is not a memoir of destruction. Instead, it is a testament to a life fully lived, a tribute to the extraordinary but fleeting human journey that delivers both boundless opportunity and crucial responsibility. In a series of intimate vignettes, Mankell ranges over rich and varied reflections: of growing up in a small Swedish town, where he experiences a startling revelation on a winter morning as a young boy; of living hand-to-mouth during a summer in Paris as an ambitious young writer; of his work at a theater in Mozambique, where Lysistrata is staged in the midst of civil war; of chance encounters with men and women who changed his understanding of the world. Along the way, Mankell ponders the meaning of a good life, and the critically important ways we can shape the future of humanity if we are fortunate enough to have the choice. Vivid, clear-eyed, and breathtakingly beautiful, Quicksand is an invaluable parting gift from a great man.

A stunning and poignant autobiographical look at the myriad experiences that shape a meaningful life, by the bestselling author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries. "Surely one of the most moving and intriguing farewell notes ever written.... Intensely beautiful in its spirit." --Alexander McCall Smith, New Statesman In January 2014, Henning Mankell received a diagnosis of lung cancer. Quicksand is a response to this shattering news--but it is not a memoir of destruction. Instead, it is a testament to a life fully lived, a tribute to the extraordinary but fleeting human journey that delivers both boundless opportunity and crucial responsibility. In a series of intimate vignettes, Mankell ranges over rich and varied reflections: of growing up in a small Swedish town, where he experiences a startling revelation on a winter morning as a young boy; of living hand-to-mouth during a summer in Paris as an ambitious young writer; of his work at a theater in Mozambique, where Lysistrata is staged in the midst of civil war; of chance encounters with men and women who changed his understanding of the world. Along the way, Mankell ponders the meaning of a good life, and the critically important ways we can shape the future of humanity if we are fortunate enough to have the choice. Vivid, clear-eyed, and breathtakingly beautiful, Quicksand is an invaluable parting gift from a great man.