Tordyveln flyger I Skymningen (roughly translated to “The Dor beetle flying in the twilight”) is a Swedish YA book written by Maria Gripe, one of, in my opinion greatest YA author ever. She has written Agnes Cecilia – En sällsam historia which is my favorite YA book of all time.

This is the first time I listen to the book (well 90% of the book, I read the ending) and it was a great joy to do so since the book actually from the beginning was a summer serial in the radio that later got published as a book.

The story in the book is about three young children, David, Annika, and Jonas. They are watering the plants in the Selanderska estate when they by accident (or fate?) find letters written by a young girl living in the 1800 century. By reading the letters, they discover a tragic love story and also that a 3000-year-old Egyptian statuette may be hidden somewhere in the village Ringaryd where they live.

This is a good story to listen to, it has a fast pace and it’s intriguing to listen to because it is always something going on something you want to know. I wanted to know what was going on even though I have read the story before. Well, I hardly remember the story so that may be a big reason why I couldn’t stop listening/reading the book. ( )

"Vem är den gamla damen som vill spela schack i telefon? Hur ska man tyda viskningarna i Jonas Berglunds bandspelare? Finns den tretusenåriga egyptiska gravstatyn kvar - och i så fall var? Har den märkliga blå blomman ett eget liv? Vad är det som påverkar historiens gång? Slumpen, viljan eller - något annat?

Här är den fantastiska berättelsen om några ungdomars mystiska upplevelser i byn Ringaryd i Småland. Och om hur två till synes tillfälliga händelser gör att vissa gömda och glömda förhållanden rullas upp och slutligen avslöjas."

I read this as a child and heard the radio-play. This has kept surprisingly well. It's still eerie and magical.

"The dung beetle flies at dusk" is a mystery/ghost story about an ancient Egyptian artifact gone missing in a small Swedish village, coupled with discussions about alternative religion, equality, and gender roles. This started out as a radio-drama and was only later adapted into a novel, but most Swedes have read the book as children. Although it was written in the 70's and the social and religious issues aren't as acute nowadays, it holds up really well as a YA mystery with supernatural elements. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as if it has been translated into English (yet?). ( )

La novela, ambientada en una pequeña localidad sueca, se mueve entre la intriga detectivesca y los misterios parapsicológicos. Tres muchachos van a atender en sus vacaciones de verano el cuidado de una inquietante casa en las afueras del pueblo.

En el desván encuentran un paquete de cartas escritas en el siglo XVIII dirigidas a la joven Emilie que hablan de una encendida pasión amorosa y de su trágica frustración, bajo la maldición de una estatua traída desde Egipto por su amado Andreas. ( )