A picaresque tale of a centenarian, police and thieves, and moments in world history. As his mother put it, "Things are what they are, and whatever will be will be."

At 100 years-old, Allan Karlsson is a reluctant birthday boy. In the old people's home they've prepared a party for him. The Mayor and the local press will be there. But this party never gets started. Still in his bedroom slippers, Allan makes his getaway through the window and begins an unlikely adventure.

Allan is no stranger to adventure, as the stories of his earlier life reveal - a life in which he dined with world leaders such as Franco, Truman and Stalin and found himself behind the scenes during major events of the twentieth century.

Jonas Jonasson was born in 1961 in Vaxjö, Sweden. After starting up and then running the successful media company OTW for twenty years, he sold the business and moved to Switzerland. There he completed The Hundred-year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared. Jonas lives on the island of Gotland in Sweden.

Translated by Rod Bradbury.

Episode 2:
Allan and his new friend Julius receive an unwelcome visitor at the station house in Byringe.

Reader: Martin Jarvis
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne

Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4. Show less