POJKARNA – GIRLS LOST
By Jessica Schiefauer
During the day – the girls, the misfits, the vulnerable, the constantly observed
At night – the anonymous boys, the observers
We where fourteen that spring, Bella, Momo and me. We kept to ourselves. In the winter afternoons we were usually in Momo’s room, but during the warm part of the year, we sat in Bella’s garden, or inside the greenhouse if it rained. We lived in the middle of all the living and growing, and it made me forget that I was Kim, that I had a body that grew too. The greenhouse was a free zone, a place where other laws ruled.
During the day Kim and her girlfriends Bella and Momo put up with the boy’s intrusive gazes and sexist insults. But at night they drink the nectar from a magical flower which turns them into boys. Kim can’t get enough of the freedom a boy’s body offers and as a boy she also falls in love with Tony. Together the two of them experience excitement and attraction, but as a girl Kim does not interest Tony.
Everything rapidly falls apart for Kim, Tony, Bella and Momo and things escalate into a heart-stopping resolution.
Girls Lost is an account of the teenage years like no other. It combines the painfully everyday with the beautifully magical in a tale of transformation, love, sisterhood and coming of age.
ABOUT THE BOOK
First published by Bonnier Carlsen, 2011
RIGHTS SOLD TO
Faroe Island, Bókadeild Føroya lærarafelags
Finland, Karisto
France, Éditions Thierry Magnier
Italy, Feltrinelli
Sweden, Bonnier Carlsen
US, Deep Vellum
FILM & STAGE RIGHTS
Stage rights, Tamuer
Swedish Film Rights, Göta Film
Swedish theatrical rights, Uppsala Stadsteater & Riksteatern
REVIEWS
“Without doubt a worthy and interesting August Prize Winner.
”
–Aftonbladet
“Surprise of the year: Girls Lost /… / Completely unexpected and well executed.”
– Smålandsposten
“Brave fantasy with existential questions /… / Well done to Jessica Schiefauer for not choosing the simple way.”
–Sydsvenskan
“The style is unadorned, with powerful metaphors. The language is hard and soft; aware of the ferocity of a flower.”
– Dagens Nyheter
“In a glowing and contemporary saga about love, death and rebirth [Jessica Shiefauer] helps her three teenage Orlando characters free themselves and explore the limits of the self. Together, and on their own, the three characters explore their genders, their bodies and their desires, beyond established boundaries. During the day they are “the girls”: the maladjusted, the exposed, the constantly observed. When night falls they become “the boys”: the anonymous observers.[…]..the borders of existence are – and must be permitted to be – so much larger than the volume restricted by the skin.”
– Expressen
AWARDS
2011 August Prize
2015 Shortlisted for the Nordic Council’s debut Children’s Award
2017 Winner of the Audio Book Prize
BOOKS
Children’s & YA
