Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home Allan Karlsson is waiting for a party he doesn't want to begin His one-hundredth birthday party to be precise The Mayor will be there The press will be there But as it turns out Allan will not Escaping (in his slippers) through his bedroom window into the flowerbed Allan makes his getaway & so begins his picaresque & unlikely journey involving criminals several murders a suitcase full of cash & incompetent police As his escapades unfold Allan's earlier life is revealed A life in which
- remarkably
- he played a key role behind the scenes in some of the momentous events of the twentieth century Translated by Roy Bradbury