The Ninth Circle
Stockholm, early 1930s. On Riddarholmen island, Movitz Schlick is hosting a flamboyant party in the aftermath of Ivar Kreuger’s suicide in Paris. Kreuger, Sweden’s most prominent industrial leader at the time, had influenced the masses to invest their assets in his global conglomerate, and had thus kept the effects of the stock market crash in 1929 at bay. But when his fraudulent scheme was revealed and the empire crashed, many of his investors lost everything, including Schlick. The party will be his last in the family palace.
Seventeen-year-old Livia, the only child of the Siegel shipping family, is also one of those who’s lost everything in the Kreuger crash. She’s snuck into the party, and when a bomb threat creates panic among the guests, a valuable object disappears from the premises. The object is a plague doctor’s mask, and what Livia believes to be the key to solving the mystery of her beloved uncle Henrik’s disappearance years ago. He was the one who was supposed to take over the reins of the family company and could perhaps have saved them from ruin, but he was also the one who raised her, when her father was too consumed with taking care of her dying mother. The heist sets a chain of events in motion, and now Livia is hunted, with dangerous men on her trail.
The Ninth Circle is the first instalment in a historical suspense trilogy set in Stockholm, Berlin and Venice, with unforgettable characters all fighting for social and financial survival. Through the decadence and doom of the era, we follow Livia Siegel’s quest for truth and revenge – a treacherous path paved with chaos, brutal violence, and death.
Victoria Larm (b. 1984) made her debut in 2022 with The Ninth Circle, the first instalment in a historical suspense trilogy, The Plague Mask, which was followed by A God in Disguise in 2023. The trilogy is set to become a TV series, produced by Nordisk Film. Larm has studied history and art history and…
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Denmark: Gyldendal, Norway: GyldendalStockholm, early 1930s. On Riddarholmen island, Movitz Schlick is hosting a flamboyant party in the aftermath of Ivar Kreuger’s suicide in Paris. Kreuger, Sweden’s most prominent industrial leader at the time, had influenced the masses to invest their assets in his global conglomerate, and had thus kept the effects of the stock market crash in 1929 at bay. But when his fraudulent scheme was revealed and the empire crashed, many of his investors lost everything, including Schlick. The party will be his last in the family palace.
Seventeen-year-old Livia, the only child of the Siegel shipping family, is also one of those who’s lost everything in the Kreuger crash. She’s snuck into the party, and when a bomb threat creates panic among the guests, a valuable object disappears from the premises. The object is a plague doctor’s mask, and what Livia believes to be the key to solving the mystery of her beloved uncle Henrik’s disappearance years ago. He was the one who was supposed to take over the reins of the family company and could perhaps have saved them from ruin, but he was also the one who raised her, when her father was too consumed with taking care of her dying mother. The heist sets a chain of events in motion, and now Livia is hunted, with dangerous men on her trail.
The Ninth Circle is the first instalment in a historical suspense trilogy set in Stockholm, Berlin and Venice, with unforgettable characters all fighting for social and financial survival. Through the decadence and doom of the era, we follow Livia Siegel’s quest for truth and revenge – a treacherous path paved with chaos, brutal violence, and death.
