“That’s enough,” Chris said.
His voice revealed neither regret nor fear. He looked completely blank.
“Stop, Amina.”
It was my own voice.
I don’t know if she heard me. She was in another world, one where only she and Chris existed. She and her rapist. And the knife, shaking in her hand.
“Get out of here!” she said.
Chris stared at her.
“Get the fuck out!”
I stepped up beside her. The sharp blade of the knife quivered in the air right beside me. Inside, my hatred coiled like a snake, it twisted around itself, a fist about to pop.
I saw the devastation in Amina’s eyes and knew it was my fault, every last bit. If only I had listened to Linda Lokind’s warnings. How could I have been so blind?
And then Chris Olsen laughed.
I looked at my best friend and took the knife from her hand.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Pastor Markus von Martens, who both gave me a wife and read the manuscript. Thanks to Birgitta Ekstrand and Monika Wieser for invaluable insights. Thanks to Zackarias Ekman for general brilliance and legal expertise. Thanks to everyone at Bokf?rlaget Forum and Bonnierf?rlagen. Thanks to Astri, Christine, Kaisa, Marit, and Kajsa at Ahlander Agency. It’s an honor to work with you. You’re all shining stars. Thanks to Karin and Peter at Kult PR.
Thanks to everyone at Celadon Books. I am so delighted to work with your brilliant team. Thanks to Deb for everything! And thanks to Vicki at Pan Macmillan! You both made this book even better.
Without my editor, John H?ggblom, this novel would not be what it is. Thanks for your meticulousness and your wisdom, and for believing in me from the start. Without my Swedish publisher, Karin Linge Nordh, everything would have been worse. Thank you for everything. Without my agent, Astri Ahlander, this book probably wouldn’t exist. I’m so happy and thankful for everything you do for me. Without Kajsa, Ellen, and Tove, there would have been no point.
About the Author
M. T. Edvardsson is a writer and teacher from Trelleborg, Sweden. The author of three previous novels and two books for young readers in Sweden, Edvardsson lives with his family in L?ddek?pinge, Sweden. A Nearly Normal Family has been sold in thirty-one territories. You can sign up for email updates here.
About Celadon
Founded in 2017, Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers, publishes a highly curated list of twenty to twenty-five new titles a year. The list of both fiction and nonfiction is eclectic and focuses on publishing commercial and literary books and discovering and nurturing talent.