The Clock-Mender

In a rural village in interwar Sweden, Nils Lindgren is content with his simple life as a clock-mender…

Unfortunately his partner, Katarina, is not.

Nils is utterly devoted to her and is desperate to make her happy.

He is aware of her many affairs over the years but finds it in himself to accept her infidelity as part of her character.

That is until he discovers that Katarina has been having an affair with his best friend, Josef Olsson.

The confrontation between Josef and Nils escalates out of control, leaving Nils very badly injured and Josef in need of an alibi.

Meanwhile, Katarina is dreaming of setting sail for America with her daughter’s boyfriend – an aspiring film writer.

When she visits her daughter, Freja, in Stockholm and finds out that her boyfriend has already left, it is the final straw.

The clock is ticking and something has got to change.

Spreading a web of lies about Nils, Katarina dismantles his reputation and ruins his friendships with very serious repercussions.

The quiet and familiar life that Nils once had is replaced by upheaval and uncertainty.

While war threatens, can he find happiness again?

Will Freja find love again?

Or will Katarina’s reckless search for her own contentment tear her family apart?

The Clock-Mender is a moving and memorable story that will keep readers gripped to the last page.

Praise for The Clock-Mender

‘A wonderfully written novel.’ – Robert Foster, best-selling author of The Lunar Code.

Maggie Freeman has written primary literacy non-fiction for Collins and Oxford and another historical novel, Daughter of the Sea. Maggie tutors Creative Writing classes in Adult Community Learning. Some of her short stories and poems have been published in the literary magazine Stand.

The Odyssey Press is a literary imprint of Endeavour Press – the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We publish new and classic literary fiction, literary biographies and works with literary tropes and themes.