Gentlemen, By Klas Ostergren

Have Wimpy bars, not to mention Elton John songs, ever featured so prominently in a Scandinavian epic novel? First published in Sweden in 1980 (now stylishly translated by Tiina Nunnally), this exuberant alloy of family saga, espionage romp and historical panorama delivers border-hopping intrigue as well as a nostalgia fest for veterans of the Sixties and Seventies.

For reasons we slowly learn, our narrator is holed up in a splendid Stockholm flat, in fear of his life. Through him we learn about the fascinating Morgan Brothers – poet and revolutionary Leo, vagabond man of mystery Henry – and the escapades in London, Paris and Berlin that drive a twisting plot. Steeped in the pop andcounter-cultures of its time, Ostergren's entertaining tour of Cold War Europe smacks almost as much of Austin Powers as John le Carré.