Lina Schollin Ask

At the Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm, among winding paths and pine trees, three lives intersect. Retired architect Gunnar has lost his wife and, with her, his sense of purpose; he spends his days immersed in memory. Klara loses her husband in an accident just weeks before giving birth to their child. Young David battles chronic illness and loneliness, yet finds joy in his first job, tending the graves. 

In the winter tranquility of this unique World Heritage Site, the three of them meet on a Monday afternoon, changing the course of their lives forever.

Lina Schollin Ask’s debut novel Mondays at Three is a moving story of grief and of the unexpected power of friendship—of finding hope, connection, and a way back to life.

Ingrid dies in her sleep at just eighteen months old. When Lina Schollin Ask and her husband check on their daughter, she is no longer breathing, though her body is still warm. As a paediatrician, Lina has trained for situations like this—but she never imagined it would happen to her own child. 

They never receive a clear explanation for why Ingrid died so suddenly, and their world falls apart. At the same time, Lina is heavily pregnant and due to give birth within weeks. How do you mourn a child while preparing for childbirth?

This is a story of the bottomless pit of grief, and of the glimmers of hope that accompany the birth of their second daughter. It is a story about the abyss that opens when a parent’s worst nightmare comes true—but also about allowing yourself to continue living after the worst has happened.

---

"In another of this year's finest books, paediatrician Lina Schollin Ask writes about how her little daughter Ingrid, late one evening, dies inexplicably in her sleep at the age of eighteen months. /…/ Lina Schollin Ask's book radiates such raw pain, even ten years after her daughter's death, that it is hard to leave it lying out alongside other books. /…/ Lina Schollin Ask describes the moment as one of the 'black boxes' that will remain in her body forever. She tells of leaving the hospital without her child and of returning home to the empty house. How the dirty marks left by the ambulance crew's boots remained on her daughter’s floor, how her unwashed baby bottles were still standing on the kitchen counter." Dagens Nyheter