Author talk: Sigrid Rausing on Mayhem – a memoir

Tuesday 16th October at 19.00 at The English Bookshop, Stockholm

Come join us for a special event here at The English Bookshop in Stockholm. We will sit down and talk to Sigrid Rausing about her latest book Mayhem – a devastatingly powerful memoir about the impact of addiction on a family. 

Tickets 60:- (incl. snacks & refreshments).
Advance tickets are also available at the bookshop.

'I write, knowing that writing at all may be seen as a betrayal of family; a shaming, exploitative act. Anyone reading this who thinks so, please know that I thought it before you'

For years Sigrid Rausing watched helplessly as her brother Hans and his wife Eva succumbed to drug addiction. It afflicted a terrible toll on their family, culminating in Eva's tragic early death. As this death led to inquest and media circus, the world looked on in horror, but few understood the suffering endured by the Rausing family.

In Mayhem, Sigrid explores the collateral damage addiction wreaks on loved ones. Telling her family's story, she examines painful and rarely discussed questions. What is it like to live with addiction in the family? How can you help without hurting the one you love? And what does it mean to survive another's addiction?

'What gives this book its astonishing power is not the guilt, but the intelligence and literary skill' – Guardian

Audiobook excerpt, read by Maggie Gyllenhaal. (video not showing in billetto-app)

Sigrid Rausing is the editor of Granta magazine and the publisher of Granta Books. She is the author of two previous books: History, Memory, and Identity in Post-Soviet Estonia, and Everything is Wonderful, which was short-listed for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. She is an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics and of St Antony's College, Oxford. She lives in London.