Tuesday, July 21, 2015

The ghostwriter, the secret plot and a ‘grave-robbing’ Stieg Larsson sequel

Controversy surrounds The Girl in the Spider’s Web and David Lagercrantz, the author hired to continue the bestselling series

Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist in the 2009 film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Lisbeth Salander rides again: Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist in the 2009 film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Photograph: Nordisk Film/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
“I was just talking to a Russian colleague about the cover,” says Linda Altrov Berg, a little breathlessly, when she eventually comes on the line.

Altrov Berg, the head of rights for Swedish publisher Norstedts, is wrapping up preparations for next month’s launch of The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the continuation of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. Larsson died in 2004, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web has been written by another Swedish writer, David Lagercrantz.

The original books, with their memorable goth hacker heroine, sold 82m copies and the sequel is rivalled only by Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman and EL James’s Grey for the title of this year’s biggest launch. Coordinating it is an undertaking unprecedented for a Swedish publisher.
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