'There Are Things I Want You to Know' about Stieg Larsson and Me

By: Eva Gabrielsson, Marie-Francoise Colombani, Linda Coverdale - translator

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

There is only one person who can tell Stieg Larsson's story better than he can, and that is his lifelong companion, Eva Gabrielsson. This is her book.

The keys to the "Stieg Larsson phenomenon" all lie with Stieg Larsson the man. No one knew him like Gabrielsson. Here, she tells the story of their 30-year romance; of Stieg's lifelong struggle to expose Sweden's neo-Nazis; of his struggle to keep the magazine he founded, Expo, alive; of his difficult relationships with his immediate family; and of the joy and the relief he discovered writing the Millennium trilogy. Above all, this is a love story, and we come to understand, while listening to "There Are Things I Want You to Know" about Stieg Larsson and Me, that if there was another secret besides Larsson's own imagination and convictions, it was his absolute love for his companion and her nurturing of their privacy and shared passions.

The book is narrated as a series of short vignettes, with titles ranging from "Speaking of Coffee" and "Stieg's Journalistic Credo" to "Goodbyes" and "The Fourth Volume". Gabrielsson speaks with rare candor and dignity, inspired only by the truth as she knows it.

"There Are Things I Want You to Know" about Stieg Larsson and Me is thus short and to the point, poignant in its account of two soulmates and the life they shared, and deeply insightful about the man everyone wants to know better and about whom so little is known. "I would have preferred to have never written this book. It speaks of Stieg, of our life together, and of my life after his death," writes Gabrielsson early in her book. It was written because she alone can tell his story.

©2011 Actes Sud. English Translation Copyright 2011 by Linda Coverdale (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

“Ms. Gabrielsson puts Larsson’s often chaotic life into context.” ( The Independent, London)

Review

She got the shaft. Expo sold out. Stieg Larsson's brother & father are real-life villians akin to the evil characters in the Millennium series. The three books stand alone. The greedy father & son have continued on abusing the name of their deceased blood kin. It's absolutely appalling.

A glimpse into the life and times

An eloquent account of sharing over thirty years together and the aftermath of Larsson's sudden passing. Larsson was miles deeper than we could perceive from reading his trilogy. This book was clearly written from a place deep inside Eva's heart and soul, with a splash of bitterness over the treatment and rights of life partners. We should all take a life lesson from this and stop putting off attending to matters which will affect the ones we leave behind. The narrator was excellent and enjoyable to listen to. I thought this was well worth my time and recommend it if you have any interest in Larsson or his fiction.

Living Together 30 Years—Legally No Rights—SAD

Wow. Talk about getting the short end of the stick. Eva Gabrielsson was Stieg Larsson’s life partner for 30+ years. They never got around to getting married. He never got around to writing a witnessed will. In Swedish law, she had no rights to his property. His brother and father wound up getting it all, including the control of his books. They even tried to force Eva out of the apartment she and Stieg had shared together. This book explains how a journalist could turn out the material for three novels in one summer. He had his partner help with the research. They were a team in everything. This is a love story of two people and also a story of how antiquated laws continue to treat unmarried spouses as though they do not exist. I listened to this book in audible. The narrator, Cassandra Campbell, portrayed Eva as I would expect her to be. That is, rigid and opinionated and true to her beliefs but also competent and capable and resilient. She has not given up in her efforts to get control of Stieg Larsson’s intellectual property In spite of the total stonewalling of his brother and father. I expect that there is a part of Eva in Lizbeth Solander and Erica Berger. Would love to get a sequel to this book that has a happy ending for Eva.

Important read for the tattoo series

Eva was mistreated in exactly the way Stieg Larsson would have hated. No wonder he was estranged from his brother and father. They are probably the very sort of people his stories are about. Greedy, selfish misogynists incapable of human feeling or warmth.

The Stieg Larsson Eva Wrote about

I wish I could have known the Stieg Eva writes about. She does a beautiful job and I enjoyed the trilogy more after listening to this. I hope that this changes for Eva. It’s a crime what the family did to her. I refuse to go buy into the merchandise version of Stieg. Thank you Eva. I appreciated him much more after this. I’m inspired by you and him.

Don't bother

Some interesting information but mostly a bitter - and some times weird - one-sided account of the fight for the late Stieg Larsson estate.