Mayhem: A Memoir

Granta magazine publisher Rausing (Everything Is Wonderful: Memories of a Collective Farm in Estonia and History, Memory, and Identity in Post-Soviet Estonia) recounts the lives of her brother Hans and her sister-in-law Eva, who were addicted to drugs, in this intimate and compassionate memoir. Rausing is the granddaughter of the founder of Swedish company Tetra Pak, a food-packaging manufacturer. Tetra Pak brought her family great wealth and fame. Her brother Hans, the family heir to Tetra Pak, and his wife Eva cycled in and out of rehabs, relapsing after several years of sobriety. In 2012 Eva’s body was found decomposing in her and Hans’s bedroom. Rausing explores this tragedy with grace, humility, and razor-sharp insight. Throughout, she attempts to better understand the fierce compulsions of addiction. After Eva’s death, Rausing’s family was the subject of relentless Swedish tabloid coverage. Rausing concludes, “[Mayhem] implies guilt, which is appropriate in this context, since there is no addict story that doesn’t revolve around guilt, shame and judgment.” Her writing is rich with humble wisdom. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (Sept.)