In the international best-seller, the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and it's two sequels, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, the late Swedish author, Steig Larson, wrote about a girl raised in an abusive family whose father, Zalachenko, a professional hit-man, was involved in sexual trafficking of young girls and other crimes, but could not be charged because the Swedish Security Service were protecting him because of his value to them as an intelligence asset. His son is also a psychopath and accomplice of his father in criminal activities. The girl of the title, Lisbeth Salander, was a skilled fighter, trained in hand-to-hand combat, highly intelligent and thinks unusually quickly in an emergency, a highly moral person, though willing to kill if need be or when provoked, but frightened of her father and resigned to his being immune to legal prosecution.
When I first read the book, I immediately thought, " I know this girl!" I went on to read the other two volumes in the series, and the conviction grew that I had indeed met the woman Larson called, "Lisbeth Salander".
This book was a work of fiction, of course. That is, the plot and most of the incidents in the story are fictional, at least as far as I know. But the personalities of several of the main characters are based on the real-life Eve Martin, of Sheffield, U.K. whom I spent two months interviewing last year in Guatemala.
Eve was raised in a very abusive family in England, a family that was involved in sexual trafficking of minors, as well as other crimes. And they could not be charged or prosecuted because they had protection from the British security services due to their value as operatives and assassins in intelligence work. Eve is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, is highly intelligent, a very moral and compassionate person, though willing to kill if need be or if provoked, thinks unusually quickly in an emergency, and is scared to death of her family and resigned to their being immune to legal action for their crimes and their abuse of her.
Eve was raised in a very abusive family in England, a family that was involved in sexual trafficking of minors, as well as other crimes. And they could not be charged or prosecuted because they had protection from the British security services due to their value as operatives and assassins in intelligence work. Eve is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, is highly intelligent, a very moral and compassionate person, though willing to kill if need be or if provoked, thinks unusually quickly in an emergency, and is scared to death of her family and resigned to their being immune to legal action for their crimes and their abuse of her.
Steig Larson was not only a writer of fiction. He was also a long-time activist fighting against far-right groups and abuse of women. In that capacity, it is very possible that he had some connections with activists in Britain and might have heard something about the Gourvenec family and their services to the British Crown, especially since from things Eve said, it would seem they are quite far to the right of the political spectrum and therefore very likely to be known to the sort of contacts Larson would be likely to have in the U.K.
He must have modeled Salander on Eve and the character of Salander's father, Zalachenko, on Eve's uncle, whom Eve describes as a "psychopath". Eve says her entire family are psychopaths, and that they intentionally bring up their children to become psychopaths. Eve herself is a very responsible and compassionate person, but nevertheless, has been forced to do things she would rather not have done. The close resemblance between the fictional characters in these books by Larson and the real-life individuals in England indicates that Larson knew something of the Gourvenecs and their association with the British government. He might even have met Eve personally. His portrayal of Salander certainly shows that he was aware of her.
There are some minor differences that only add to the impression that Larson was aware of the real-life family in England and modeled his fictional characters on them, but attempted to disguise certain traits to conceal their identities. The story is set in his native Sweden, not in England, the Zalachenko family is of Russian origin, while the Gourvenec family name derives from France, and the fictional Salander is unusually short, while Eve Martin is unusually tall. Salander has numerous tattoos. Eve has numerous scars from being tortured by her relatives.
In the novels, a woman from another abusive family fled to Australia early in her life and became quite successful there. Eve has a female cousin who went to Australia early in her life and became quite successful there.
The Zalachenkos have a connection with a motorcycle club, which are generally regarded in Sweden as a criminal element, who act as expendable muscle for them. The Gourvenecs have connections in the Roma community, who are generally regarded in England as a criminal element, who act as expendable muscle for them.
Such minor diferences are exactly what an author would be expected to do if he wanted to change a few minor details to hide the identities of the people he was writing about. All in all, the similarities far outweigh the relatively minor differences.
In the novels, a woman from another abusive family fled to Australia early in her life and became quite successful there. Eve has a female cousin who went to Australia early in her life and became quite successful there.
The Zalachenkos have a connection with a motorcycle club, which are generally regarded in Sweden as a criminal element, who act as expendable muscle for them. The Gourvenecs have connections in the Roma community, who are generally regarded in England as a criminal element, who act as expendable muscle for them.
Such minor diferences are exactly what an author would be expected to do if he wanted to change a few minor details to hide the identities of the people he was writing about. All in all, the similarities far outweigh the relatively minor differences.
In one conversation with me, Eve suggested writing the story of her family as fiction in the form of a novel. I discouraged that idea. I wanted to present it as a true story so the guilty parties could eventually be brought to justice and I feared that if the public first was introduced to the facts in the form of fiction it would be harder to later convince anybody that the story was true. But events have made that caution obsolete and for better or for worse, the story, or at least a great deal of it, is now in the public awareness as a series of best-selling novels.
And, as with the series of novels, the final chapters still remain unwritten.
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