The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden

The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden (2013), a contemporary novel by Jonas Jonasson, follows the story of a king who goes missing from a gala banquet and the true story behind the disappearance. Though the novel received a mixed critical response, it was nominated for the 2014 Specsavers National Book Award. Jonasson worked as a television producer, journalist, and media consultant before turning to fiction writing. His debut, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, was an immediate phenomenon in his home country of Sweden.

Growing up in 1960s Soweto, Nombeko Mayeki, an illiterate, yet very intelligent girl, feels there must be more to life than the slums of South Africa. When the novel opens, her life is miserable, and she has no opportunities. Since both of her parents are dead, she has been living alone for years, working since she was only five years old. No one in the local community helps her to look after herself.

Although she can’t read, her main ambition in life is to visit the National Library in Pretoria. When she’s not busy scrubbing latrines or doing other menial work, she teaches herself to read and write. She saves money when she can to fund her journey to Pretoria, but even she admits that her dream sometimes feels out of reach.



Nombeko’s luck changes one day when she finds beautiful diamonds stashed away in a secret hiding spot. Knowing this might be her only chance to break free of her impoverished life, she doesn’t hesitate to steal the diamonds. However, she is so preoccupied with hiding the jewels that she doesn’t see a truck hurtling down the road.

The truck driver, an engineer, hits Nombeko. He is drunk, and all he is worried about is getting into trouble for driving dangerously. Thankfully, Nombeko only suffers minor injuries, and she isn’t interested in reporting him. All she wants to do is run away before he finds the diamonds. He asks her where she is going and offers her a ride. She accepts and gets in the truck. Nombeko will never get to the library.

Their conversation turns to work. Nombeko learns that he works at a covert nuclear weapons facility and that he could do with extra help. She tells him that she’s a good cleaner, and he offers her a job. She goes with him to the facility and pretends to be content cleaning the facility. However, Nombeko takes every opportunity she can get to learn more about engineering.



Nombeko’s knack for numbers and technology leads her to cover for her alcoholic employer all the time. She unintentionally helps him build seven top-secret atomic bombs. Once she realizes what she has done, she flees South Africa and makes for Sweden. She hopes she can make a new life for herself with all the wealth she’s accrued, but life only gets more complicated.

In Sweden, Nombeko meets twin brothers—one of whom hopes to depose the Swedish king. Nombeko thinks the twins are ridiculous, but she indulges their whims. For a while, everything seems normal. However, before long, the consequences of her work in South Africa catch up with her.

One night, a bomb Nombeko helped build arrives on her doorstep. Frantic, she tries to dispose of it, but she has no idea what she is doing. She acquires a motley crew of accomplices—an American war veteran, Chinese art forgers, a young woman set on starting a revolution, and the twins—and together, they search for somewhere to hide the bomb. They settle on an old pillow factory, where they’re sure no one will ever look for them.



The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden is loosely based on the real six nuclear missiles built in South Africa during the 1980s. In the book, this seventh bomb is the one everyone forgot about, and Nombeko is responsible for the fate of the world. If she doesn’t stop the bomb from falling into the wrong hands, nuclear war is a real danger—not to mention she’s still trying to talk the twins out of hurting the Swedish king.

Meanwhile, a friend of Nombeko’s turns up in Sweden. He happens to be the Chinese President. Nombeko travels to the palace in the hope that he remembers her. They interrupt a gala banquet, but the Swedish king allows the interruption. The president does remember her, and he offers to help her with the bomb, but he demands to see it first. The Swedish king also wants in on the action. However, when she takes them to the bomb, the twins spot the Swedish king and kidnap everyone.

Stuck together in the pillow factory, the twins come to realize that the king isn’t as bad as they believe. They regret ever trying to harm him, and the Swedish king forgives them. In the meantime, they still must dismantle and dispose of the bomb. The king and the president agree to transport the bomb to China, where they will jointly study its technology. Everyone, including Nombeko, moves on.