The Eighth House
Linda Segtnan’s haunting true crime book delves into the 1948 murder of a Swedish girl and the intense psychological effects Segtnan experienced while researching the crime.
In 2018, Segtnan was working on a project at the National Library of Sweden and noticed a grainy newspaper photograph of nine-year-old Birgitta Sivander. A lovely child with eyes “as deep as wells,” Birgitta had been killed in a wooded area near her home; seven decades later, her assailant was still unknown. A pregnant mother, Segtnan felt “more sensitive to the suffering of children” and was transfixed by Birgitta’s picture. She reveals how, at that moment, a different “conception” occurred, compelling her to investigate Birgitta’s murder.
The book details Segtnan’s methodical and tenacious research into Birgitta’s death, autopsy, the misguided police investigation, and the court trial. With keen eloquence, the events leading up to the murder and its aftermath are imagined, from Birgitta enjoying the youthful independence of venturing out alone on a “shimmering” May evening to her sudden disappearance. Later, hundreds of local men carried lanterns through the woods, searching for Birgitta and winding through the darkness like a “human chain.”
Beyond its skillful research and reenactments, the book evokes the setting of late 1940s Perstorp, a close-knit industrial town emerging from the trauma of World War II. Along with her initial, visceral connection to Birgitta, Segtnan describes her resultant obsession with the crime and increasing anxieties regarding the safety of her own children. She sensed supernatural presences and explored Birgitta’s astrological chart; while this mysticism heightened Segtnan’s intuitive awareness, she also felt overwhelmed with anguish and frustrated by her inability to find definitive answers.
Linking the past and present with complex emotions, The Eighth House is a gripping true crime chronicle and memoir.
Reviewed by
Meg Nola
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
