For more than a century, a palace in uptown Stockholm has been a hub where magic, play and stage art come to life. This is the habitat for some of the country’s most famous actors, obstinate egos, grandiloquent geniuses. This is also where a female director works. She is both celebrated and admired but also disheartened and quite exhausted. She is grieving a dead friend and navigating the relationship with a colleague who may or may not love her. The arrival of the new boss changes the atmosphere altogether. The director feels a distinctive shift – what used to be warmth turns into coldness. She is, however, flattered when the new boss asks if she wants to direct Hamlet on the Main Stage. It is the most extraordinary of assignments. When she accepts, she does not know that it will spell the beginning of the end. 

Jenny Andreasson’s debut novel is a fierce, darkly entertaining and tender portrayal of life behind the ornamented façade of a royal theatre. A perceptive glimpse behind the scenes of a mighty cultural institution. About the cost of artistry and what happens when the workplace balance shifts, becomes fluid, turns dangerous. About asking oneself the crucial question: do I want to live or die?