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THE NOVEL
At the beginning of the 20th century, Spain is shaken by war and a national depression. But the country is also experiencing an exceptional cultural awakening. It is at this time that a newly engaged artist couple, Sigge Jernmark and Ninni Billing, arrive in the legendary city of Granada. They enjoy time together and their love for each other, capturing the moment with their brushes. What they ignore is the imminent death of one of them.
The discovery of a mysterious tomb many years later, in the cemetery near the Alhambra Palace, becomes the beginning of the captivating tale of the destiny of Sigge and Ninni. A series of amazing coincidences involves several people in the story, including the author himself.
Five Weeks in Granada is a dramatization, based on a large number of true events and supported by several years of research on the protagonists Sigge Jernmark and Ninni Billing. One of the most important sources for the novel is a manuscript written and richly illustrated in 1922 by Sigge Jernmark, but the author has also collected information from the daily press of the time, local archives, and historical facts.
“This is the story of five weeks in southern Spain, at the beginning of the last century. It includes a fate that affected people who were born much later. I am one of them”, writes the author in the preface.
The story started with an article in the local Swedish newspaper in Spain, Sydkusten, of which Mats Björkman is the director. "After that, it lay fallow for nearly 20 years, before it rose to prominence again and a series of events prompted me to write this novel. The fact that amazing things happened during my research has only strengthened my belief that The story wanted to make itself known.”
"In retrospect I have realized that the knowledge and skills that I have acquired throughout my life have been necessary for this novel to come to life,” says Mats Björkman. "Only someone who is bilingual in Swedish and Spanish, who knows how to write, who has journalistic training to be able to investigate and interview, and who possesses a thorough knowledge of both Spain and Sweden could have assembled the material for the novel. Furthermore, as can be read In the book, I was involved in events myself, so I decided to tell the story partly in first person, as one of the characters.”
Five weeks in Granada is the debut of Mats Andrés Björkman as a novelist and the first version to be published was the Swedish one, in May 2022.
More information
Interactive map
Sigge Jernmark´s manuscript
Sigge Jernmark´s manuscript
Follw the steps of Sigge and Ninni in the Granada of 1922. This Google Map indicates 41 places described in the novel.
Sigge Jernmark´s manuscript
Sigge Jernmark´s manuscript
Sigge Jernmark´s manuscript
Here you can see the original pages from the chapter about Granada, in Sigge Jernmark´s manuscript "The Journey to The South".