Thursday, June 17, 2010

New York Tiumes, June 16, 2010, 2:03 pm
Author’s Companion Is the Girl Who Wouldn’t Settle
By Jukie Bosman

Talks over a financial settlement between Stieg Larsson’s companion and his family have broken down, Agence France-Presse reported.

Mr. Larsson, the author of the hugely successful Millennium series, died suddenly in 2004 at 50, leaving behind the manuscripts that became the trilogy. Though they were  a couple for 32 years, Mr. Larsson and his companion, Eva Gabrielsson, never married, and because Sweden does not recognize common-law marriage, Ms. Gabrielsson was not legally entitled to profits from Mr. Larsson’s books,  which have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. Nonetheless, the Larsson family was negotiating with her over a payout.

“The discussions which have been going on for six months between Stieg Larsson’s heirs and his former partner Eva Gabrielsson have ended,” Mr. Larsson’s father and brother said in a statement released on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, she did not want to accept all or part of our proposal.”

Mr. Larsson’s family has said that it offered to share some of the proceeds from the novels –  which have touched off a race to find the next great Scandinavian noir writer – with her, but that she declined. Ms. Gabrielsson does have a crucial piece of the Larsson legacy: a laptop computer containing roughly three-quarters of a fourth novel.

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