Inlands

No one moves here. This becomes clear long before I pack up the car with all my things, to move here. It leads to countless explanations as to why I’m leaving the city to move more than a thousand kilometers away. Love, that’s the simplest explanation. But it still seems odd that I’m moving. That’s what everyone thinks.

A young woman from Stockholm relocates to her boyfriend’s home town, a small village in the far north of Sweden. But the relationship has ended by the time she arrives at ‘the Place.’
She stays in the village for reasons she herself doesn’t really understand. She gets a job in the local grocery store and rents an apartment. Slowly but surely, she works her way into the Place, and lets the new environment work its way into her. This new society has other, unknown codes. Here you leave the door unlocked, booze at the hotel on Saturdays, drive your car on the ice. But how do you become part of something new?

Elin Willows’ critically acclaimed debut novel is a luminous story about loss and change, written in stripped-down, distinct prose. It examines the tangible mechanics of everyday life, the mentality of a small community and the relationship between freedom and loneliness.

The film adaptation of Inlands premiered in 2020.

Publishing information

Year of publication

2018

Page count

200

Original title

Inlandet

Original language

Swedish

Original publisher

Natur & Kultur

Awards & nominations

Nominations

2019

Författarförbundets Katapultpris (Swedish Authors' Association's Catapult Prize)

2018

Borås Tidnings Debutantpris (Borås Tidning newspaper - the Newcomer Award)

About the author

Elin Willows (b. 1982) grew up in Sweden and lives in Vaasa, Finland. Willows is a culture journalist and works at Svenska Yle, meaning at the Swedish-language department of the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Willows first novel Inlands (orig. Inlandet) became a brilliant debut in 2018, earning the author a nomination for the best newcomer award by Borås Tidning (Borås Tidnings Debutantpris), one of the oldest Swedish newspapers. The author was also nominated for an annual award given by the Swedish Authors’ Association, who recognizes Swedish debut novelists with their prize Katapultpriset. The book was also made into a film, which was nominated for a Guldbagge award, given by the Swedish Film Institute. In 2021, the author published her second novel, New Names (orig. Nya namn). A beautiful follow-up to her debut, New Names is another intriguing contemporary novel that impresses with its concise yet effective language.

Author page

Reviews

"Willows demonstrates an exquisite sense of language and a poetic attention to everyday events such as pressing together cardboard boxes or spreading marmalade on a piece of bread."

Svenska YLE (on TV)

"A sensation! Rarely have I encountered such a finished debut work of fiction, with an absolutely unique tone and a language that is so effective that you are irresistibly sucked into the events."

Vasabladet

"It is in the swaying uncertainty that this style-defining novel finds its rare life."

Dagens Nyheter

"In the toss between the constant light of summer and the eternal darkness of winter, Willows portrays something so unusual in the coming of age novel as the experience of making a choice and sticking to it."

Tidningen Vi

"A beautifully written novel with a fine eye for the friction between city and country."

Västerbottens-Kuriren

"A really stylish debut novel."

Arbetarbladet

"It's beautifully harsh and sensitively told, about being still until your legs start wanting to walk again – a truly strong debut."

Svenska Dagbladet

"Inlands feels like crawling into hibernation, or like getting the wounds plastered with ice."

M Magasin

"Elin Willows skilfully portrays the feeling of alienation by allowing time and space to flow together and become part of the narrator's inner life."

Göteborgs-Posten