SONG FOR AN APPROACHING STORM is Peter’s long awaited first novel and tells the unique story of a love triangle involving the young Pol Pot in the mid 1950’s, as Cambodia stands on the brink of dramatic change after gaining its independence.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Cambodia, 1955. The country is on the brink of major change, with the first democratic elections just around the corner. In the midst of the frenzy, we meet Sar—a quiet, likeable man in his early thirties who is campaigning for the opposition, but secretly working for an Communist takeover. Many years, he will become known to the world as Pol Pot.

Now, Sar is thinking about Somaly, the woman he is engaged to be married to and wants to build a life with. The outcome of the election will determine whether they have a future together. With his personal and political life at stake, Sar has everything to lose when his political rival, vice premier Sary, also notices the beautiful Somaly, and takes up the struggle for her affection. And of course Somaly—young, bored, beauti­ful—has an agenda of her own.

Over the course of thirty days, and against the backdrop of political power games, a love triangle unfolds in the summer heat, in an atmo­sphere tense with ambition.

SWEDISH PRESS FOR PETER FRÖBERG IDLING »SONG FOR AN APPROACHING STORM«:

»I wonder if I’ve ever read a debut novel as good as Song for an Approaching Storm … Strong words, but what to do when your limbs are trembling with the touch of poetry … What makes this such a masterpiece is that it yet again shows fiction’s capacity as a source of knowledge … It’s hot, sticky as in the fiction of Marguerite Duras and Graham Greene, two odd voices that echo faintly here … The tension between power and Eros is hard as steel in Fröberg Idling’s brilliant novel.«

SR KULTURNYTT

»This is an impressive work of fiction, not just about a horrendous time but also about man’s ability to be both victim and executioner in one lifetime. He writes so damn well, Peter Fröberg Idling. I’m deeply moved and impressed.«

EXPRESSEN

»A hundred pages into the novel I think: but this is in the James Ellroy and Mario Vargas Llosa department! Peter Fröberg Idling’s political thriller Song for an Approaching Storm is the same kind of feverish, sweat-stained fiction/nonfiction … This is a fully developed piece and cannot be but one of the finest literary debuts in a few decades, at least. Big words, I know, but I stand by them.«

BORÅS TIDNING

»Peter Fröberg Idling really knows something about showing not telling … This certainly is a textured and rich first novel.«

NATUR & KULTUR FOREIGN RIGHTS

»Several times I come to think of Lawrence Durrell’s majestic Alexandria Quartet, which in a similar prismatic manner follows four people in a bustling postcolonial city. I am ready to think that Peter Fröberg Idling would be able to focus on any given spot in history and, through his ability to show, make it feel as startling and alive as he does here.«

DAGENS NYHETER

»At the end of the book, Fröberg Idling thanks his colleague Steve Sem Sandberg. But there’s something about the tone and the beauty of the writing that makes is even more akin to Per Olov Enquist’s documentary novels … Peter Fröberg Idling has written an exciting and thought-provoking novel. I appoint it this year’s best, but actually feel that this time frame is much too short.«

NORRKÖPINGS TIDNINGARNATUR & KULTUR FOREIGN RIGHTS

»A startlingly well wrought and well written novel. For a literary fiction debut it is very impressive.«

UPSALA NYA TIDNING

»This Cambodian triptych delineates an epoch with vibrating precision. Song for an Approaching Storm is an exquisite portrayal of complex emotion, of how people are shaped and coerced by their context. Overwhelming.«

ARBETARBLADET

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