Ms Estonia

It was already in the early wake of the Estonia-disaster on the Baltic Sea in September 1994 that the first outlines of a novel based on it started to emerge in my mind. I actually started writing it in January 1999 and finally completed it three years later to the month.

It stood out for me that the novel had to be a chronicle with the disaster as a spectrum comprising the various storylines. My aim was not just introducing a female character with a mysterious background, but also making the contrast between East and West tangible: the sparkling city of Stockholm and the thus far underexposed country of Estonia.The ferry MS Estonia, plying the route between Tallinn (Estonia's historically plagued capital) and Stockholm for only a few years, was to many Estonians a beacon of the rapprochement to the West they had been craving for for years. All of a sudden Estonians, who had slaved away their lives under Russian rule, could sail away to the West on board a luxurious ship. MS Estonia united two nations, for on the other side of the Baltic an enormous enthusiasm was awakened among Swedes to make a round voyage to Tallinn passing two glorious night on the Estonia, with alcoholic beverages breaking down all barriers between themselves and the Estonians.

Ever since the country's independence of 1990 the harbour of Tallinn has been welcoming scores of tourists from nearby Finland and from Sweden. People are convinced that in the near future Estonia will be discovered by West European tourists, who will chance upon the Baltic nations in their quest for new places to explore.

During the repression there was an old Estonian saying that one day a great white ship would liberate the country. Many people thought MS Estonia was that 'ship of liberation'. MS Estonia crossed the Baltic Sea four times a week and was the jewel of the harbour. Measuring 157 metres in length, having 1190 cabins on board, harbouring 370 vehicles on her cardecks and offering all thinkable luxury to a capacity of 1400 passengers, the ship was a giant. In the weekends she was fully booked, as the end of the week passages were called 'boozecruises', taxfree liquor forming an irresistable attraction. For five years the ferry had weathered the autumn storms that many a sailor so dreadly fears. In September 1994 it all went wrong. Early in the morning of 28 September, to be exact. Although the true cause of the accident may never be found, it may be ascertained that the dismembered bow-door was the beginning of the end (MS Estonia was a so-called 'roll-on roll-off' ferry).

The horrific disaster of that stormy night resulted in 852 victims, most of whom will forever be entombed in the sunken ship. A mere 137 passengers survived. On either side of the Baltic the Estonia-disaster has been linked for years to the controversial settlement disasters of this magnitude are plaqued by.

Not so long from now ten years will have passed since the disaster. That it still is a subject of debate may be concluded from the fact that no fewer than 80 books have been published on the subject. Only three of these are fiction, the majority trying to solve the puzzle of the 'why and wherefore', not shunning terms like 'sabotage' and 'explosions'.

In 'A passage to Sweden' I make an effort to respect the feelings of those involved and merely try to give grief a face by portraying Carl Hansson and his son Per.

I have always kept an open eye to the possibility that one day my book will be published in Sweden. I therefore dedicate it to 'all the children of the sea'.