An Elderly Lady is up to No Good

Maud is an 88-year-old Swedish woman living alone in a spacious apartment in Gothenburg. Her family once owned the entire building, but when she was a young woman, her father lost most of the family’s money. After her father died suddenly of a heart attack, their lawyer negotiated a lifetime tenancy in the apartment, rent-free, for Maud’s mother and her two daughters. Maud’s mother grew depressed after her husband’s death and died two years later.

For many years, Maud and her sister, Charlotte, lived in the apartment together. Since Charlotte’s death 40 years prior, Maud has lived alone. Because housing is now very expensive and limited in Gothenburg, many of the building’s tenants resent Maud’s presence after so many decades—but aside from forcing her to pay a small monthly sum toward the building’s upkeep, they cannot dislodge her.

When the story opens, Maud is avoiding answering her door. A newer neighbor, Jasmin Schimmerhof, is repeatedly ringing her doorbell, but Maud has no interest in seeing her. Jasmin’s famous parents spent little time raising her, and after her mother died in a car accident, Jasmin spent some time in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility.