A social worker in London calls 29 year old Blade, who is his mother's caretaker. Edith has early dementia and things seem to be getting worse for her, which is why Blade torpedoed his own life to move back to London to take care of her. Blade goes to the bus stop on Horton street where he finds the social worker talking to his mom about Sven, the Swedish man Edith is meeting. His heart sank-she is again waiting for this man there as she has been doing every week, at the same time, for the last three years. Even though Blade has done a thorough search, he can't find any trace of this man, until they find a box of letters and pictures in the attic. A Swedish town is mentioned in one of her unsent letters-could this be a clue? To solve this mystery, Edith sends Blade to the town with a list of possible Svens, his friend will act as her caregiver in his place. His first stop will be at a flower shop that one of the Svens owned.
Sophia now is a partial owner of the flower shop, along with her older brothers. She works hard every day to be able to purchase it from them but it seems almost impossible to make that kind of money. Her uncle Sven was the only person who understood her, and was probably also on the autism spectrum. She had had a sad childhood-kids at school taunted and laughed at her, and her parents did everything to deny her personhood, and spent their time and money trying to make her "normal." But now that she is 23, she tries to break out of her lonely life and find a boyfriend (with the understanding that she won't kiss because of the bacteria exchange). She's not having a lot of success. Since her uncle never left London, Blade immediately eliminates him.
It turns out that Blade has a camper to tour retirement homes in Sweden, and Sophia needs a van to take her flowers to several events around the countryside-and what could happen in just a week?
This was a charming and very thoughtful novel. Neither Blade nor Sophia are perfect but they learn to put up with each other as you follow their road trip, while back in London, Edith is finding friends and creating a community of strangers. Zetterberg fills her novel with humor, but at the same time, there is a sadness in her character's lives. Watching Edith cope with her illness, Sophia handling her trust issues, and Blade emerging from his three year caregiving duties lends a very positive and hopeful twist to a potentially challenging situation.
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
August 19, 2025
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