The Resilient Ladies of the Luxury Store
1912. Stockholm is a city on the rise. The new Olympic Stadium stands ready and waiting, and doesn’t the city also deserve a spectacular department store to add to its growing portfolio of splendid buildings?
Josef Sachs, owner of the Nordiska Kompaniet stores and popular employer, has his sights set firmly on creating one, breathtaking commercial cathedral in the city centre.
Torun Ekman is pregnant. As Stockholm’s best kept secret, she gives her baby to Karolina and Edward. And bitterly regrets it. But when war breaks out, and the Stockholmers are scared and starving, can Torun find her fulfilment in local politics and fighting for the welfare of other people’s children? Yes. And no.
Head of Ladies’ Gloves, Märta Eriksson’s excitement for the new store is replaced with fear for the death of her German fiancé.
Beda Johansson soothes the friction between pro-Germany Märta and pro-Allies Torun, but when she dies from Spanish flu, Beda leaves a precarious void between the ladies. And Märta turns to new friendships at N.K.
Salt-of-the-earth Ellen Sachs is her Uncle Josef’s safe pair of eyes and ears among his staff. She’s also a rock for Märta and the new Head Cashier Miss Maria Blombergsson. Maria, too, harbours a secret; she’s actually Mrs Blombergsson. She finds her kindred spirit in Torun Ekman. Friendships are also firm in NK’s French Couture Atelier — where hemlines are going up and waistlines are coming down. Creations are painstakingly designed, modelled, sewn, adorned and pressed: from a sketch to an NK packing box. Royal gossip runs high, as does a real fear for their specialised jobs when times are hardest and unemployment in the city is rife.
Young Victoria Ekman is very drawn to the French Couture Atelier. Her quest is to find her passion and preferably one inherited from the mother she never knew. Because surely she must have inherited some trait? Could becoming the next premier haute couture fitter be the answer? Her chum Greta Gustafsson (Garbo) is unconvinced.
Everyone behind the counters at NK knows the Countess; the surly cheapskate who loves her Scottish terrier Bertil above all. Certainly above her late husband, who lost her fortune and left his wife virtually penniless and with no means of supporting herself. But that’s the way of the patriarchal world: a woman loses her majority and control of her own finances when she marries. But only the Countess knows of her predicament. Until she steals from the store.
When Wilhelm doesn’t return from the front, a spell in America opens Märta’s eyes to another way of living happily ever after.
And throughout all the ups and downs of the war years and beyond, Josef Sachs is working night and day to keep his renowned store afloat and his NK-family safeguarded from financial strife. Set against the background of a breathtaking emporium in the heart of Stockholm, friendships among the women see them through the men’s war that nobody wanted and into the swinging 1920s. Kindred Spirits at Nordiska Kompaniet spans fifteen years and is based on the fascinating history of Josef Sachs and his fabulous Nordiska Kompaniet on Hamngatan 18.
The Resilient Ladies of the Luxury Store is the second instalment of the beloved series Stockholm Landmarks. The first part, The Phenomenal Women of the Grand Hôtel , has been highly successful among readers both in Sweden and abroad and the long-awaited third instalment is published in September 2026, The Sisters of Queen Sophia’s Hospital.
In 2025, Ruth Kvarnström-Jone confirmed her position as a leading commercial author when her novel became one of the most sold fiction titles of the year in Sweden, according to the Swedish Publishers’ Association.
Ruth Kvarnström-Jones is one of Sweden’s most successful contemporary historical novelists, renowned for her meticulously researched, character-driven novels set in Stockholm at the turn of the twentieth century. At the heart of her work lies a distinctive concept: telling the story of a city through its iconic landmark buildings while bringing to life the women…
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Netherlands: Luitingh-Sijthoff, Italy: Editrice Nord, France : City Editions , Germany: Blanvalet, Finland: WSOY, Estonia : Varrak , Norway : Aschehoug, Denmark: Cicero/Gyldendal, Iceland: Benedikt, :1912. Stockholm is a city on the rise. The new Olympic Stadium stands ready and waiting, and doesn’t the city also deserve a spectacular department store to add to its growing portfolio of splendid buildings?
Josef Sachs, owner of the Nordiska Kompaniet stores and popular employer, has his sights set firmly on creating one, breathtaking commercial cathedral in the city centre.
Torun Ekman is pregnant. As Stockholm’s best kept secret, she gives her baby to Karolina and Edward. And bitterly regrets it. But when war breaks out, and the Stockholmers are scared and starving, can Torun find her fulfilment in local politics and fighting for the welfare of other people’s children? Yes. And no.
Head of Ladies’ Gloves, Märta Eriksson’s excitement for the new store is replaced with fear for the death of her German fiancé.
Beda Johansson soothes the friction between pro-Germany Märta and pro-Allies Torun, but when she dies from Spanish flu, Beda leaves a precarious void between the ladies. And Märta turns to new friendships at N.K.
Salt-of-the-earth Ellen Sachs is her Uncle Josef’s safe pair of eyes and ears among his staff. She’s also a rock for Märta and the new Head Cashier Miss Maria Blombergsson. Maria, too, harbours a secret; she’s actually Mrs Blombergsson. She finds her kindred spirit in Torun Ekman. Friendships are also firm in NK’s French Couture Atelier — where hemlines are going up and waistlines are coming down. Creations are painstakingly designed, modelled, sewn, adorned and pressed: from a sketch to an NK packing box. Royal gossip runs high, as does a real fear for their specialised jobs when times are hardest and unemployment in the city is rife.
Young Victoria Ekman is very drawn to the French Couture Atelier. Her quest is to find her passion and preferably one inherited from the mother she never knew. Because surely she must have inherited some trait? Could becoming the next premier haute couture fitter be the answer? Her chum Greta Gustafsson (Garbo) is unconvinced.
Everyone behind the counters at NK knows the Countess; the surly cheapskate who loves her Scottish terrier Bertil above all. Certainly above her late husband, who lost her fortune and left his wife virtually penniless and with no means of supporting herself. But that’s the way of the patriarchal world: a woman loses her majority and control of her own finances when she marries. But only the Countess knows of her predicament. Until she steals from the store.
When Wilhelm doesn’t return from the front, a spell in America opens Märta’s eyes to another way of living happily ever after.
And throughout all the ups and downs of the war years and beyond, Josef Sachs is working night and day to keep his renowned store afloat and his NK-family safeguarded from financial strife. Set against the background of a breathtaking emporium in the heart of Stockholm, friendships among the women see them through the men’s war that nobody wanted and into the swinging 1920s. Kindred Spirits at Nordiska Kompaniet spans fifteen years and is based on the fascinating history of Josef Sachs and his fabulous Nordiska Kompaniet on Hamngatan 18.
The Resilient Ladies of the Luxury Store is the second instalment of the beloved series Stockholm Landmarks. The first part, The Phenomenal Women of the Grand Hôtel , has been highly successful among readers both in Sweden and abroad and the long-awaited third instalment is published in September 2026, The Sisters of Queen Sophia’s Hospital.
In 2025, Ruth Kvarnström-Jone confirmed her position as a leading commercial author when her novel became one of the most sold fiction titles of the year in Sweden, according to the Swedish Publishers’ Association.
