Like his gorgeous "Long Rowing Unto Morning", "The King of Sweden" centres on a woman who is simply misunderstood by a world where innocents are fooled into a myriad of seductions that lead to the unravelling of the most human of human hearts. It is Lock's great artistry to make such suffering beautiful and necessary, and to make out of this language an artefact that forces us to feel the inner turbulence of the characters who inhabit this masterful book.