It's 1968. As war rages in Vietnam, a group of American deserters holed up in Japan plot their escape with help from local peace activists. Their destination: Sweden.
Based on true events, Sweden takes readers on an exhilarating journey from the killing fields of Vietnam to a fogbound fishing port on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, with stops along the way at a hippie commune in Japan's subtropical south and a student-occupied university in Tokyo.
Sweden is your passport to discover a part of American history you never knew.
Purchase directly from The Mantle for $14.95 or from Amazon | Book Depository | your local bookstore
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Sweden
2018
327 pages
paperback ($14.95) and ebook ($3.95)
Historical Fiction | Japan | War
5.5" x 8.5"
978-0-9986423-1-4
Cover design by Jose Lucas. Interior design by Hobblebush Books.
CONTACT: Shaun Randol, shaun [at] themantle.net
Publicity, Reviews, and News
Reviewed by Joel Swagman including a vlog review
Reviewed by Only a Blockhead
Named one of the best fiction books of 2018 by Asian Review of Books
Reviewed by the Historical Novel Review
Reviewed by Asian Review of Books
"A Playlist for Sweden" in World Literature Today
Reviewed by Throw Out Your Books
Reviewed by Donovan's Bookshelf
Reviewed by Vietnam Veterans of America
Reviewed in Midwest Book Review
Reviewed by the Swift Coffee Blog
Feature essay on Lit Hub by Matthew Turner
On How Sweden Came to Be by Matthew Turner
Matthew is selected for the New Zealand Society of Authors emerging writers program
Sweden is reviewed by Brunching Bookworms
About the Author
Matthew Turner was born in Greytown, New Zealand in 1961. After graduating from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, he spent a year studying Japanese language and culture at Nagoya University as a Japanese Government (Monbusho) Scholar. He was later awarded a second Monbusho Scholarship to conduct postgraduate research at Keio University. He has lived, worked, and traveled widely in Japan.
In 2007, inspired by the landscape prints of the ukiyo-e artist Ando Hiroshige, he walked from Kyoto to Tokyo along the ancient Nakasendo trail, a distance of more than 330 miles. He occasionally writes about his travels on foot and other miscellaneous subjects at www.thewalkingfool.blogspot.com.
Matthew Turner lives with his wife in Christchurch, where he works as a writer and translator. Sweden is his first novel.