LINDA SEGTNAN (born 1986) is a Swedish author and writer on the subject of history based 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.  

Agent Erik Larsson

TO BE PUBLISHED JANUARY 2026, ALBERT BONNIERS
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 2022, albert bonniers
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 growing 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

"‘The Eighth House’ is presented as non-fiction. I call it a novel. Linda Segtnan gives us more than facts; she gets under the skin of desperate parents and children and teenagers who are suffering, and she ruthlessly exposes herself. That is the nerve of the book... The vulnerability of children, not least towards society, is one of the themes of the book. Linda Segtnan depicts this in a powerful and raw way.”
Upsala Nya Tidning

“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

“Linda Segtnan's debut novel should not be read if you want to find the solution to a murder mystery. Its strength lies in its melancholic portrayal of the years when children are small and fragile and parenthood is new and elusive. Segtnan becomes obsessed with finding the solution to the unsolved murder of nine-year-old Birgitta Sivander in 1948. It's no spoiler to say that she may be looking for something else."
Vi Läser

“Solving the case becomes an obsession for the author... This is Segtnan's debut novel, and it is interesting and unlike anything else I have read.”
Mariestads-Tidningen

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

“Love it.”
Hanna Widell, podcaster

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

“An incredible reading experience written in a language I want to steal.”
Emma Bouvin, journalist

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

“Loved it, loved that it was sad and obsessed and spiritual and esoteric and above all beautiful... Spells a trend reversal in Swedish literature!”
Ellen Strömberg, author