Winner of the August Prize, Sweden s most prestigious literary award: a novel about a perfectly reasonable woman s descent into the delusions of unrequited love
Ester Nilsson is a sensible person in a sensible relationship. Until the day she is asked to give a lecture on famous artist Hugo Rask. The man himself is in the audience, intrigued and clearly delighted by her fascination with him. When the two meet afterward, she is spellbound.
Ester s life is then intrinsically linked to this meeting and the chain of events that unfolds.She leaves her boyfriend and throws herself into an imaginary relationship with Hugo. She falls deeply in love, and he consumes her thoughts. Indeed, in her own mind she ssure that she and Hugo are a couple.
Slowly and painfully Ester comes to realize that her perception of the relationship is different from his. She s a woman who prides herself on having a rational and analytical mind, but in the face of her overpowering feelings for Hugo, she is too clever and too honest for her own good. Bitingly funny and darkly fascinating, "Willful Disregard" is a story about total and desperate devotion, and how willingly we betray ourselves in the pursuit of love."