The Heart of the Compass

Anna Thulin

“We should reach the lake soon,” I say. “Then the house will be on the other side.”
“Can you check your phone again?” he asks, adjusting his glasses.
“There’s no service here, but a bit further ahead.” We walk faster and he rubs his gloves against each other and is unusually quiet. Until a couple of twigs snap right next to us.
“What was that?”
An owl calls and flies up. The sky has changed color again and is now grey-blue with pink underneath. It won’t be long before it is completely dark.
“Are you sure the lake is here? Can’t you check again?” I type feverishly with my fingers, but my phone doesn’t work well when it’s cold outside. My blood freezes. For just as night falls upon us, the screen flickers one last time and dies.

Hugo lives with his family in a matchbox in the forest. At least the house is so small that it feels like that. He has a boat-loving father with dreams that are a bit too big and a mother who likes to drink coffee and tinker with the car. Momo comes from a faraway war and has just arrived with his Syrian family in Kallsund, a small town in the north. When he and Hugo meet in class, they take a vow to become best enemies. Until Hugo’s father suddenly disappears and they realize that they have to help each other in order to find him. Together they set off into the deep green forest, towards the invisible castle and the cabin by the frozen lake.

A story about courage and friendship, tangled family relationships and the importance of finding a home. Anna Thulin is a journalist and writer born in Stockholm, now based in Paris and Skåne.

Press voices

“…Anna Thulin finds a language that is beautiful and well-balanced for children that same age as the boys, seventh grade and lower, for driven and experienced readers in middle-school, who do not merely need an exciting plot to keep reading. Because Thulin is a writer who cares just as much as about the linguistic representation as the plot, something that bodes well for upcoming works, after this debut in children’s books.” Dagens Nyheter