Linda Segtnan (b. 1986) is a Swedish author and historical writer living in Stockholm.

Her writing often moves between the factual and the fictional, using historical material as a framework for existential questions.

Themes of motherhood, fear, and memory recur throughout her work, as she examines how private anxieties intersect with public history.

Linda made her debut in 2022 with The Eighth House. Her first novel, The Fisherman, was published in January 2026.

Agent: Erik Larsson

Published Albert Bonniers, January 2026
Genre Literary fiction
Pages 260
All rights available

It is midwinter when Magdalena Grip, the wife of a forester, arrives at her new home – Helö Farm in Småland, surrounded by dark forest. Alongside Magdalena and her husband Johan, the German bookkeeper Becker and the maid Annie already live there. The maid claims that Helö is haunted, and the stories bring unwelcome memories to life in Magdalena.

It is not long before there is a knock at the door and something is let in. Loyalties and power relations are shaken, and in their attempts to come to terms with the inexplicable phenomena, Magdalena and Johan turn to both exorcism and psychoanalysis.

Who decides what is real? Can Magdalena even trust herself?

Published Albert Bonniers, 2022
Genre Narrative non-fiction
Pages 300

Rights sold
Finnish: Gummerus
UK English: Bonnier Books Ltd.
German: Atrium Verlag

One May evening in 1948, nine-year-old Birgitta Sivander steps between the tree trunks and disappears. Shortly before dawn, she is found dead in a ditch in the forest. Seventy years later, Linda Segtnan happens to read a newspaper article about the unsolved murder in Perstorp, Skåne. Something compels her to delve deeper into Birgitta's fate. She turns to the archives, but at the same time approaches the story with an openness to the unknown. As her obsession grows, so does a life in her womb. A girl. How can you bear to bring a child into a world that can be so bottomlessly cruel? How can you bear the dangers that threaten your daughter?

The Eighth House is a book about every parent's nightmare – an exorcism to come to terms with how fragile life is.

Reviews

“Compulsive ... an original and captivating addition to a wave of women’s writing subverting the power structures behind the stories they tell.”
Irish Times

“Contemporary society loves to wallow in real crimes and ‘true’ stories: to shudder and get close to the misfortune of others. But Segtnan problematises her intimate digging in a very nuanced way. The fact that she is an experienced historical researcher also contributes to this. In a way, this is more of a book about the balance between Linda's strong desire to find out more about Birgitta's case and her insight into how problematic that drive is. That unfinished business paves the way for a certain obsession. It is not difficult to draw parallels with Bea Uusma's ‘Expedition: My Love Story’ from 2013.”
Barometern

“A book that is almost as impossible to describe as it is to put down.”
Carolina Setterwall, author

“Captivating, idiosyncratic and beautiful.”
Jack Werner, author

“Furiously beautiful... The debut of the decade.”
Klara Doktorow, radio personality