Even If Everything Ends

Journalist Liljestrand makes his English-language debut with an engaging climate change satire. In an alternate present, PR consultant Didrik von der Esch is caught stealing a quad bike on camera while attempting to rescue his wife, Carola, and three children from a massive forest fire. Everyone survives, no thanks to him, and he then catches the last train back to Stockholm, without telling Carola or their children where he’s gone. There, while the security video circulates online and makes Didrik the subject of a meme, he holes up with his former lover Melissa Stannervik, an influencer who’s house-sitting for tennis pro Anders Hell. Melissa finds herself in her own online morass after her tone-deaf posts of early cherry blossoms win her ire as the world collapses, and she keeps up a steady opioid consumption while painting herself as a victim of online bullies. Anders is away on vacation with his 19-year-old son, André, who grows increasingly annoyed and vocal about how the elite have insulated themselves from the consequences of their greed on the climate. Liljestrand gets in plenty of barbs at the various players as they cling to their old lives amid disaster. It makes for a devilish twist on climate fiction. Agent: Astri Von Arbin Ahlander, Ahlander Agency (Sweden). (May)