Benny & Shrimp

I'm a sucker for love stories, but I never expected to fall so hard for Benny & Shrimp. A novel about how life sometimes gets in the way of true love, Benny & Shrimp is both surprisingly honest and laugh-out-loud funny. The story begins in a cemetery, where Desiree ("Shrimp"), a young widow and librarian, encounters the odd creature that is Benny, a lonely middle-aged dairy farmer. The two are mismatched from the start -- Desiree is disgusted with the hideously extravagant flowers and decorations Benny has placed on his mother's grave, and Benny assumes Desiree is as cold and plain as the headstone she keeps staring at.

An unlikely love blossoms between them, but it doesn't take long for the reality of their separate lives to set in. Eventually, the couple is forced to answer the question: Can love conquer all? Katarina Mazetti's answer is as real and relatable as her beautifully crafted novel. Benny & Shrimp is already a bestseller in its native Sweden, and I'm sure that once the word gets out, this offbeat love story will fly off American shelves, too.

Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti (Penguin Books, July 2009)