Sandra Gustafsson

The English cover of my latest book Hudlös. Skinless will be released in the spring.

“Years went by but all they knew was that he was Liam, unlike all the others. A little boy named Liam, himself and no one else. Nothing else was clear. Alice wished she could gather him up in her arms and hide him forever from all the fear and horror.”

Alice and Jonathan have a child, Liam, but Alice’s son brings her no joy. Something is very wrong. When Liam is eventually found to be seriously ill, the diagnosis tears the family apart. Alice is convinced she knows how to help her son, but Jonathan trusts the health care system and is determined to follow medical advice. Finally the only thing that binds the two of them is Liam himself, and the struggle to save him overwhelms them both. Nothing else matters, and their lives will never be the same.

Skinless is a powerful, unsparing and demanding story about a reality that touches the lives of many families.



“This hair-raising and horrible account of developing madness and a mother’s wild desperation at her son’s illness is deeply moving. The unsparing substance and precision of the language shows us the author knows this territory well. This is her third novel describing mental illness and social exclusion.”
— Lena Condelius, BTJ -häftet, edition 21, 2015


“Undertaking the composition of a novel like Skinless certainly means yielding to the powerful temptation to immerse oneself into the miseries of others in order to analyze them. Sandra Gustafsson knows exactly what she’s doing. She opens herself wide to us, in my opinion, much like an actor identifying entirely with a role. It’s a completely convincing achievement.”
— Anna-Charlotte Östman, LitteraturMagazinet


“Really forceful, gripping and harrowing! Book of the Month for August, 2015."
— Jennie’s boklista