Literature and Fiction · Hardback

The Studio Apartment

Norwegian title: Ettromsleiligheten

Lotta Elstad

One man. One woman. One more woman. A humid week in late summer – a studio apartment – a kitchen worktop – a teacup – a basket of lemons – a caress – a data cable – a cashmere sweater – a blue day pass – a warm breeze – a light yawn – a warrant for an arrest.

You know the story.

The Studio Apartment (Ettromsleiligheten) is a novel inspired by leaked interview reports from the Julian Assange scandal that took place in Sweden. The plot concentrates on the Wikileaks founder’s visit to Stockholm in the late summer of 2010; a visit that resulted in an accusation of rape by two Swedish women. The novel does not delve into whether the accusations were lawful, but instead draws attention elsewhere and asks more fundamental questions about betrayal, double-dealing and the relationship between “edited” and “unedited” reports of reality. In the same way it questions the Wikileaks project itself, as well as the wave of documentary literature that this novel itself forms a part of.

‘Elstad’s ambition to portray Assange’s days in Stockholm in the same fragmented, documentary style as dominates on Wikileaks’ own web pages succeeds in grabbing the reader’s attention.’ DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV

‘Lotta Elstad writes about Julian Assange without heroic facts and draws on the relationship between readers and the media … By neglecting to assign a name to the characters or organisations to which they belong, Elstad makes it possible to include a wealth of information in a format digestible for readers.’ MORGENBLADET