Plea for help from anyone who has read Jan Guillou's Swedish Crusade Trilogy

[frogbeastegg]

Thanks to a recommendation here I picked up the first two books; I enjoyed them a lot. The third book I couldn't get; the date on Amazon.uk was pushed back to November this year as soon as I ordered it. The rest of the books were done in 2002. This seemed so odd I emailed the English version's publisher (Orion) and they replied that they are not going to translate the third book because they lost money on the first two! Argh!

:goes down on her knees and begs: Can anyone tell me if there is another English translation of the third book? Maybe there is an American one not listed on amazon.uk? Failing that can someone give me a nice, long indepth account of what happens in the third books? Please? I'm desperate! I can't leave it like this, two books out of three with no ending!

[Ironside]

After looking on the net I can say that a deep friendship with Anna Paterson (the translator ) or a quick course in Swedish seems to be your best choise.

I've might have missed something but I don't think so.


I've red it, but it was a while ago and I don't have time to read it again and write a comprehensive summary ATM.

[Snowhobbit]

Is it possible that they've translated it to another language? I recall that you speak french, right? I know it's a long shot but it might work...
Otherwise you'd better start practising your Swedish as previously suggested

[Hosakawa Tito]

Poor Miss Froggy, I hope this helps. http://www.bestprices.com/cgi-bin/vl...source=adwords

Here's one from Amazon, half priced used, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...791341-9602438 the descriptions don't say that they are translated into English.
If it's what you are looking for, and for some strange reason this book is only available for shipment in the US, pm me and I'll help you.

[Dîn-Heru]

If, you don't find it anywhere else, I could try and translate it for you. But as I also have alot of course material to learn, I can only do it in the afternoon, so it might take a while before I get each chapter finished.

But seeing as you have read the two first books, you should get to read the third as well, so if I am your last hope, please let me know and I'll try not to dissapoint.

[frogbeastegg]

:wipes tear from her eye: Thanks, folks.

I'm not much of a linguist; my French never passed GCSE level and that was the best I managed with any language. I am not even sure if there are any Swedish languages courses available where I live. Swedish is now on the list of languages I wish I know, between Japanese and Latin.

Yes, those are the books, but I strongly suspect both they are in Swedish rather than English. The English two I have, and the third which never appeared (:shakes fist at Orion publishing and curses them creatively and at some length:), were all given English titles. The third book is called 'The Kingdom at the End of the Road'.

Dîn-Heru, thank you, I really do hope you will not need to undertake such a mammoth task, but I admit I would love to read the third book properly instead of just a summery. However any ending is better than no ending at all, and I'm dying to see how exactly this ends. It's plainly not a case of 'Arn comes home; he and Cecilia are reunited and live blissfully ever after with their son'

I can't believe Orion only managed to get funding for two of the three books; I would have expected them to pitch the translation as a set or not at all. They even have cover art for the book, page number estimates - the works. It's as if they had it all prepared and then dumped it at the last second.

[Dîn-Heru]

:wipes tear from her eye: Thanks, folks.

Dîn-Heru, thank you, I really do hope you will not need to undertake such a mammoth task, but I admit I would love to read the third book properly instead of just a summery. However any ending is better than no ending at all, and I'm dying to see how exactly this ends. It's plainly not a case of 'Arn comes home; he and Cecilia are reunited and live blissfully ever after with their son'

It is not really, a big deal. I have read the books two times already, ( can't give more than a very short and not very in-depth summary though as it is a year or so since I last read them, and I don't have the books infront of me). Besides this could serve as an excuse to go out and buy them, which I have considered doing for a while now.

Also, in danger of creating more work for myself, you should see if the epiloque (sp?) of the series is available. It is called 'Arven etter Arn' in norwegian, I think, so possibly 'Arn's Legacy' in English. Which deals with how Arn's family captures the Swedish throne.

[Spetulhu]

I can't believe Orion only managed to get funding for two of the three books; I would have expected them to pitch the translation as a set or not at all. They even have cover art for the book, page number estimates - the works. It's as if they had it all prepared and then dumped it at the last second.

That may well be the case. If they suddenly got the urge to cut losses there's no sense in printing the third book, is there? Try asking the publisher or the translator for the text, in case they're really nice and want to help a fan.

But it's more likely they'll just tell you to take a hike. They've given up on the third book in silence, just so they can sell more of the ones they did publish.

The books Hosokawa dug up seem to be in ... Spanish?

[frogbeastegg]

I got a second reply from Orion; it's really useful.

"I've contacted the rights department and this is their comprehensive
answer:"

Yup, the comprehensive answer is:

[bmolsson]

Actually Swedish is a very simple and easy to learn language. Even small kids in Sweden speaks it........