“Ritratto di donna in cremisi” by Simona Ahrnstedt, recensione di Daniela Domenici

“…touching like Via col vento, provocative like L’età
dell’innocenza,, universal like Orgoglio e pregiudizio…”: these words, which we
totally agree on, taken from the cover of the book, give already an idea of
what is “Ritratto di donna in cremisi” by Simona Ahrnstedt, Swedish psychologist
and author of her first romance, perfectly translated in Italian by Roberta
Nerito and published by Sperling and Kupfer.

It is an unforgettable love story  overflowing with passion and with the  fascinating
pace of a classic tale, its 433 pages fly away with any moment of pause.
It is set, above all, in Sweden in 1880s with some chapters which take place in
France and it  rotates  around the fatal,  inexorable and moving attraction between
Seth Hammerstaal, a Norwegian “gold  bachelor     with a very  considerable
patrimony, and Beatrice Lowenstrom, a   strong-willed  and rebel Swedish
girl   who badly adapts herself  to the rigid conventions of the period. Around
them a series of characters, perfectly described, move and the places are so
accurately described as to reveal a true love of her land  by Simona Ahrnstedt and a deep knowledge of
its monuments and its traditions.

I want to conclude with the words of a Swedish
magazine which I wholly agree on: “Fascinating , moving and, above all,
extraordinarily romantic. Read it, read it, read it”: since I am convinced that
world needs poetry I warmly suggest it to you.