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1794: The City Between the Bridges by Niklas Natt och Dag is the second book of the ”Bellman noir” historical mysteries trilogy featuring Jean Mickel Cardell, the one-armed watchman.

Erik Three Roses, a sensitive nobleman in love with Linnea Colling, his childhood friend. Erik’s father opposes the marriage and exiles Erik to Saint Barthélemy, a Caribbean Swedish colony. Erik, however, manages to return home and marry the love of his life. On their wedding night, he awakes to find her brutally murdered. Erik, believing he’s the killer hospitalizes himself in an attempt to find a cure.

Linnea’s mother does not believe the official story that her child was mauled by wolves and also doesn’t believe Erik is capable of such brutality. She requests Cardell to investigate the murder which leads him into dark corridors of humanity which no one wants to enter. Emil Winge, Ceclil’s brother, joins Cardell but he might be more of a hindrance than an asset.

I stumbled on this book accidentally, I really enjoyed The Wolf and the Watchman and was excited to learn that there’s a trilogy in the making. Much like it’s predecessor, 1794: The City Between the Bridges by Niklas Natt och Dag (translated by Ebba Segerberg) is dark, grim, and somewhat depressing, yet fascinating with a good plot and narrative.

The story is mostly set in 18th Century Stockholm, and is full of descriptions of life at the time, as well as the people occupying it. The author does not view the past with rose-colored glasses, like many other cities its size around the world, life wasn’t precious, and each day brought its own, sometimes deadly, challenges.

The dark, brutal story is unrelenting but difficult to stop reading which is a testament to the excellent translation. I also enjoyed that the author takes time to introduce the characters, sometimes a large section of the book. The strong character development, not for every character of course, was a strong reason I enjoyed the book.

I wouldn’t classify this book as a “mystery”, per se. The who-done-it aspect is quite clear around the middle of the story, the question is not “who”, but “how”, and “why”. Nevertheless, the book is still engaging with a few twists here and there but mostly the story is coherent and straightforward.

This book has a lot going for it, and the author managed to include many themes in a relatively short space. Class collisions, complicated motives, struggle to survive, buying love and power, and violence for the simple pleasure of violence are all touched upon. The one recurring theme that I found is that sanity and madness are closely related even though they seem different.

The seedy atmosphere is felt on every page. The author isn’t shy from throwing challenges galore at his characters. It felt as if a terrible fate is just waiting for any character at the turn of every page, which, of course, made me want to turn the page. ( )

Unrelentingly brutal despite the fascinating story ( )

Erik Three Roses fell in love with the daughter of a peasant on his father's estate. His father forbids him to marry her and sends him to Saint Barthélemy where he is horrified by slavery. He finds a way back to Sweden and marries the young woman who dies on her wedding night. He lands in a hospital, but most people believe he belongs in an asylum. I almost put this book down many times because it's not my type of book, but something compelled me to finish it. It is dark and would be classified as noir and perhaps also as literary fiction. I did not realize this was the second book in a series. I don't know if reading the earlier book would have helped or not. ( )

The Publisher Says: A #1 international bestseller, this atmospheric and breathtaking sequel to the “cerebral, immersive page-turner” (The Washington Post) [The Wolf and the Watchman] explores the darkness hidden beneath the splendor of 18th-century Stockholm.

Stockholm, 1794: A young nobleman, Eric Three Roses, languishes in a hospital as the rest of the city claims that he belongs in a madhouse. Riddled with guilt, he writes down the memories of his lost love—his beautiful wife who died on their wedding night.

The young woman’s mother also mourns her death and, desperate for justice, begs for help from the only person who will listen to her: Jean Mickel Cardell, the one-armed watchman. But she isn’t the only person seeking him out.

Emil, younger brother to the brilliant lawyer and detective Cecil Winge, finds the watchman to demand his late brother’s pocket watch back. Instead, Cardell enlists Emil’s help to discover what really happened at the Three Roses estate that dreaded wedding night.

The City Between the Bridges: 1794 is a suspenseful race for the truth before it’s too late from an author with a “thrilling, unnerving, clever, and beautiful” (Fredrik Backman, #1 New York Times bestselling author) voice.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Splendidly grim; staggeringly brutal.

Really, I could stop typing right there. What you need to know is: The first book isn't a necessity to read before this one, but I recommend it. If that book's truly dreadful crimes don't cause you to blench, this one's won't either plus you'll already know Mickel Cardell...he's central to the point of view of Enlightenment-era Stockholm from below our usual ten-thousand-foot aerie of aristocracy of the mind or the law. History glosses over so much.

The author and the translator must have worked closely together on this series to maintain such a clear sense of the language being used with great exactness and concision. The way the imagery unfolds is gripping, especially in the more awful parts...and there are plenty of them!...so I'm not going to spend a lot of keystrokes specifying the CWs. Trust me, if you need a content warning, you might shouldn't pick this series up. Bodies and minds are abused, ground down, commodified. No one in this book has a shred of a chance at happiness.

If that matters to you, shop elsewhere.

What you'll get in this shop is a very trenchant take on the role of power in corrupting the powerful's souls. What happens when no one can say no to you is never pretty. What happens to others is downright horrifying. It behooves the reader willing to come down the fetid alleys and swim across the reeking canals to realize what dehumanizing and Othering costs the Othered, but also those passively complicit in it.

The manner in which the story is constructed, multiple apparently disconnected viewpoints, isn't at first obviously going to lead us to Stockholm and Mickel. Be patient...it will. But that polyphony that feels so alienating early on is, in the end, an effective tool for conveying the reality of the story to the observing eye of the reader.

I don't for a second think too many will see the ending coming. That is praise, coming from me. I can't honestly say I felt ma'at upheld in the resolution. Because nothing on this wide green Earth can redress the balance of horror and misery unleashed on the people in it. But it doesn't stop being worth the trip.

So no happy happy, joy joy. But a lot of seriously good points being made in prose more than up to the task of delivering the burden of the tale in unforgettable ways. ( )

Dal 1793 al 1794, ossia dal giorno (dag) alla notte (natt). Sembra che l’autore abbia recuperato gli avanzi cestinati del precedente libro per scrivere il secondo.



Si appella all’età della ragione chiunque non capisca che l’uomo è governato da forze che agiscono molto più in profondità della logica. Ciò che va oltre la comprensione della gente sono inclini a considerarlo un fattore negativo. Anziché cercare di capire, preferiscono disapprovare. Ma a giusto titolo, saremmo noi a doverle compiangere, queste povere creature, questi fantasmi che non sono mai stati toccati dalla passione. Governano il mondo in maniera abietta e le conseguenze sono ben visibili intorno a noi. L’uomo dovrebbe essere libero mentre in realtà, ovunque, lo si vede in catene.

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L'uomo è nato libero, ma dovunque è in catene.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau


Ma i cieli e l’inferno si svuotano dei loro abitanti solo per prendersi gioco di noi miserabili esseri umani? Quando non sono frutto dell’immaginazione, sono farse.

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