It feels fantastic that such an idiosyncratic book is Sweden's best-selling book, says publisher Richard Herold at Natur & Kultur about the Publishers' Association's statistics.
In the book, a female artist embarks on a journey but gets stuck at an unassuming motel, where she explores her sexuality and inner life. When the Swedish edition was released at the end of May, many critics were lyrical.
"Body and aging"
"Can become a classic, because it so intensely struggles with the question of how to live", wrote Malin Ullgren in Dagens Nyheter, while Gabriella Håkansson in Sydsvenskan meant that July "shows us literature's unique qualities and takes back the formulation privilege around body and aging".
Others have described "All four" as "the first major pre-menopause book", a novel that even "makes women leave their husbands".
Was Natur & Kultur prepared for the breakthrough? Both yes and no, answers Richard Herold.
The book has an enormous power, it affects all senses and has become a big topic of conversation in both the USA and England, so the potential was clear. But that it would become the big book of the summer, I hadn't quite dared to hope.
Fifth printing
How large is the edition that you are printing?
We are now on the fifth printing, 15,000 books sold in about a month.
It is often said that readers nowadays buy books in the original language and that translations into Swedish sell poorly – but this book was released last year in English and still sells well. Why?
The challenge for publishers with translated literature is to get attention at all. When it happens, most people still want to read in the language they master best, says Richard Herold.
