The Millenium tour
Stieg Larsson, writer, worked as a journalist for 25 years with a small but influential left-wing magazine in Stockholm.
When he died in 2004 of a heart attack at the age of 50, rumours spread around Sweden that he had died in suspicious circumstances because he was investigating and writing about far rightwing and racist movements in Sweden. Of course the local media had a field day with this but the rumours were completely unfounded.
The twist in all of this, as his fans will know, is that shortly before his death Stieg Larsson got a publishing deal in Sweden for his Millenium series of books. This was originally intended as a series of ten books, but due to his untimely death, this turned out to be just three, and a fourth framework for a book.
The books; ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, ‘The Girl Who Played with Fire’ and ‘The Girl who Kicked over the Hornet’s Nest’ became mega-hits in Sweden and the English, French and German language translations of the first two sold millions of copies.
Södermalm, where most of the intrigue in the Millenium series takes place, used to be a blue-collar area of Stockholm and is one of fourteen islands that make up the capital city. Over the past couple of decades the area has been spruced up, for good or for bad, and is the setting for much of the action in his books – and of the Millenium tour, run by the Stockholm City Museum.
This 90-minute walking tour is in English and French and its highlights include Götgatan, where Mikael Blomkvist’s, the trilogy’s main character, office is; the view over Riddarfjärden from his apartment and ‘Kvarnen’, a legendary drinking hall on Södermalm frequented by Lisbeth Salander, another main character in the books.
If we tell you any more it won’t be worth taking the tour, so go to Stockholm City Museum web site for more details.