Augustenbad en sommar

June early 1890s, poet Andreas Öman arrives in the small provincial spa town of Augustenbad. It soon becomes evident that he has not journeyed here out of his own free will, rather he is obeying orders from his wealthy wife and her family.

Reluctantly, Andreas steps into the consulting room of the renowned Dr Arvid Liljedahl. Andreas is given information about ‘the chronic toxic illness’ that is poisoning his brain and should therefor be treated with daily baths in water at 6 degree Celsius and by following doctor’s ninety-nine rules down to the last detail.

Andreas is not impressed and he continuously tries to avoid or break the doctor’s advice and rules. Trying to handle the effects of his abstinence, he takes long nightly walks and encounters sleepless Amanda Eggerts, the severely syphilis-strucken wife of a Justice Counsellor, who keeps herself out at nights and out of sight. Andreas is captivated by her beauty and is attracted to her despite her face being covered with nasty boils.
 
Andreas also gets to know a young girl with bright eyes who irons the first-class-residents’ attire. In a drunken haze during the traditional Midsummer Festivities, he seduces her with tragic results.
In Augustenbad en sommar / Augustenbad, one Summer people from different social classes meet – in an age marked by syphilis, morphine addiction and large class dividends.

Press voices:
“Anneli Jordahl manages to include a lot in her novel; class structure, quackery, love, betrayal. But nowhere does she get lost or loses her grip on the story. Instead it becomes a poetic tale.” Tara 

“Anneli Jordahl’s prose rests solidly on nicely carved 1890s legs, and contributes to making Augustenbad en sommar a well realized novel, which makes me grateful that I was not a woman alive just over a hundred years ago.”
Svenska Dagbladet

“What a wonderful novel /.../To read Augustenbad one Summer is to be reminding of days gone by but also days that will surely return again.” Västerbottens-Kuriren

 “Jordahl writes with experience and confidence” Upsala Nya Tidning 

”[Jordahl] has sharpened her tools; her prose is well restrained and balanced, while at the same time lively and carefully lyrical.” Hallands Nyheter 

“A book you read slowly to make it last for a long time. A book steaming with summer days too hot to endure, the stuffy lifestyle of the 1890s and a class based society extending not too far back in time. Despite their faith in progress, people are shaped by their determinism while longing for something else.”
Ystads Allehanda

“Jordahl has found a slightly amused tone that allows her to put forth both her serious and her somewhat lustful morality without too much finger pointing – the conclusions become evident as the story unfolds.”
Östersundsposten

“Delightful little novel./.../ Anneli Jordahl has written an entertaining and quietly sarcastic story which almost unnoticeably turns into a human cautionary tale with a pronounced social class point of view but with a humanity still open to the sarcastic portrait of the heavy handed dictatorship of the health prophet Liljedahl.”
Gefle Dagblad

“Anneli Jordahl’s style is spot on and she has found a language that works” Corren

“Jordahl’s variation of the “sagospel”  is decidedly successful because she stays so close to Atterbom’s text, while taking an elegant turn at the very point where his most poignant question is asked. Because where the latter showed how king Astolf ruined his life and kingdom by allowing poetry to distract him, Johrdahl’s drunken poet uses poetry to satisfy his own personal whims. If poetry was the goal for Astolf, for Öhman it has become the means. For the characters the consequences become catastrophic. But for the reader, Jordahl’s illustration of how Öhman lifts happiness out of salvation is elegant enough to be greeted with enthusiastic consent.”
Göteborgs-Posten

“Augustenbad one Summer” is difficult to resist, seductive and deeply worrisome, tempting and uncomfortable at the same time.

Anneli Jordahl has written a novel which continuously grows, and whose intensity is intensified through a skillful escalation of the inner drama.” Helsingborgs Dagblad

“Sort of has something for everybody /.../ Romance and tragedy, embarrassments and jokes, different middle class characters and different working class characters, a crazy doctor and a wise bath attendant.”Aftonbladet