Acts of Infidelity

Lena Andersson

Translated by Saskia Vogel
17 May 2018
9781509841127
208 pages

Synopsis

'A novel of heartbreak told with intellectual rigor. It gripped me from first page to last. Fantastic!'
Alice Sebold

When Ester Nilsson meets the actor Olof Sten, she falls madly in love.

Olof makes no secret of being married, but he and Ester nevertheless start to meet regularly and begin to conduct a strange dance of courtship. Olof insists he doesn't plan to leave his wife, but he doesn't object to this new situation either . . . it’s far too much fun.

Ester, on the other hand, is convinced that things might change. But as their relationship continues over repeated summers of distance, and winters of heated meetings in bars, she is forced to realize the truth: Ester Nilsson has become a mistress.

To read Acts of Infidelity is to dive inside the mind of a brilliant, infuriating friend - Ester's and Olof’s entanglements and arguments are the stuff of relationship nightmares. Cutting, often cruel, and written with razor-sharp humour, Acts of Infidelity is clever, painful, maddening, but most of all perfectly, precisely true.

Praise for Wilful Disregard
'Gripped me like an airport read . . . perfect' Lena Dunham

Lena Andersson can do no wrong. Acts of Infidelity is a novel of heartbreak told with intellectual rigor. It gripped me from first page to last. Fantastic!
There are few people writing about love and longing with such unflinching sharpness and insight as Lena Andersson. She gives feelings and experiences so often dismissed as trivial the attention and gravity they deserve, to brilliant, and often painful, effect.
This is a follow up to Wilful Disregard, but you don’t need to have read that to appreciate the craftsmanship of Acts of Infidelity . . . Andersson’s book is cutting and honest, and Ester’s situation and feelings are frustrating, complicated and so, so real.