Most of all I want to thank my publisher, Sofia Brattselius Thunfors, and my editor, Anna Hirvi Sigurdsson at Piratförlaget. You have read my simple declaration of love to fine art again and again (and again!) without tiring (either that, or you hide it well). Your work has made such a difference to this book.
Next, I thank my early readers: Uncle Hans (who in his later years has become a kind critic), my buddy Rixon (who has always been just that) and my big brother Lars. For the sake of familial harmony I’d better thank my brother Martin as well, although he still hasn’t read a single line.
The most fun to thank is my fellow author Sara Lövestam for her knowledge of Swahili. In turn, she has involved Bakari Mngazija and Aisia Nyirenda and family (not least Papa Robert!). To them I say not only thanks, but asante sana.
Thanks too to the experts who have given advice and pointers along the way. Art expert Mikael Karlsson, Master of Laws Sten Bergström, former police officer and security expert Björn von Sydow, IT security expert Jonas Lejon, physicians Erik & Lotta Wåhlin, and – not least – the slightly clandestine expert Joakim. I have listened to what you told me, considered it – and, in the end, done what I thought was best for the story. A novel should above all be worth reading rather than true.
Thanks too to my agent Erik Larsson at Partners in Stories, who managed to sell Sweet Sweet Revenge Ltd to half the world before there was even a manuscript.
There’s room for a few more thanks. One of them goes to all you readers who send cheers from Pakistan to Canada and just about every country in between. Your greetings make me feel just as happy and proud each time.
I have saved my very last thanks for you, Irma Stern. I have taken poetic licence in making just a few things up about your fantastic life, but nothing in this book is truer than your artistic greatness. You died in 1966, but you will be with us until the end of time. As long as the patriots don’t take over and ban you.
Jonas Jonasson
Stockholm, August 2020