The essays in this collection all address the status of women within Swedish society. At a time when the fascination with “Nordic Noir” has spread around the world, and authors are exploring the dark side of otherwise well-functioning societies, it is heartening to encounter serious examinations of how the legal system in Sweden can both empower women by providing interesting career pathways, but also fail them by treating the issue of sexual assault as a matter that can be easily explained by blaming outsiders, rather than looking inward.

These essays discuss extremes of Swedish society: they invoke the Swedish Queen’s recent efforts to draw attention to the physical and sexual abuse of minors, and also discuss female characters’ choices regarding whether or not to become mothers. These essays frame the ongoing debate about how Swedish authorities are responding to, or rationalizing, an increased rate of sexual violence against women as reflective of ongoing trends in globalization by examining how the recent refugee crisis impacts and doesn’t the incidence of rape.

Finally, the assembled essays also consider the way in which women’s professional ambitions can intersect with the legal system, whether as lawyers or as police officers, and everything in between.  In so doing, these essays ask us to consider how fragile even the most well-managed of societies can be if individuals decide to take advantage of their positions of power to exploit others who depend upon them.