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A Time-Traveling Family Tragedy: “Malma Station” by Alex Schulman from Timaş Publishing

A Time-Traveling Family Tragedy: “Malma Station” by Alex Schulman from Timaş Publishing

Published as part of Timaş Publishing’s World Literature series and brought into our language from its Swedish original by Nuray Zeynep Tamer, “Malma Station” once again brings the melancholic, deep, and shattering power of Scandinavian literature to the bookshelves. Penned by Swedish author Alex Schulman, this poignant 256-page novel meets book lovers in its 12th edition as of May 2026. While the book gains its visual presence through the aesthetic touch of cover designer Barış Şehri, it carries behind it a global success story with rights sold to 12 countries, having remained on bestseller lists for weeks in the countries where it was published.

The novel’s plot is structured around an enigmatic train journey speeding through an exquisite summer landscape. Traveling inside the compartments of this train are characters whose destinies are tied together by invisible webs, left completely vulnerable to their parents and to the world. A couple experiencing a deep crisis in their marriage, a single father setting off with his young daughter, and a lonely woman tracking the mysterious past left behind by her mother—all are advancing toward the exact same common destination: Malma Station. Moving across three different timelines, the lives of the enigmatic Harriet, the control-obsessed Oskar, and the searching Yana articulate into one another step by step during this extraordinary journey.

In this work, Schulman focuses on transgenerational loneliness, childhood traumas, and the heavy psychological baggage that families pass down to their children. Drawing sustenance from the wounds of his own childhood, the author depicts the world of insecure fathers, neglectful mothers, and alienated children with absolute nakedness. In particular, the inner world of the young, melancholic Harriet—who constantly observes her father and tries to make everything better for him—succeeds in gripping the reader’s heart at its most painful point. Untangling the threads in the correct order and at the right speed, this complex narrative web keeps the reader’s emotions dynamic and vivid from beginning to end.

“Childhood is like an inexplicable installation, a piece of modern art…”

Simultaneously an award-winning screenwriter, journalist, and the producer of one of Sweden’s longest-running podcasts, Alex Schulman stands out with his unique mastery in depicting his characters and especially the internal contradictions of men. Having sold 90,000 copies in his own country alone during its initial release year, this literary fiction whispers the universal ache of children who are forced to carry the mistakes of their parents and the traces of the past on their shoulders. Structured with every chapter like a compartment interlocking into the next, Malma Station is a painful and unforgettable story of confrontation—the kind that will leave you with goosebumps when it ends.