Who could imagine that an orphaned, illiterate South African girl with a mind for numbers would one day save the life of a Swedish monarch? The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden is a satire written by Swedish writer Jonas Jonasson in 2013.

The story is about Nombeko Mayeki, born in the apartheid era of the 1960s. She has never been to school, and begins working when she is just five years old. She was orphaned at the age of 10 and lives alone. Her future points to a hard life in the slums of Soweto, emptying latrines for a living.

But the artful youngster secretly harbours great dreams and teaches herself to read and write. Her fate changes when she finds a stash of diamonds and flees Soweto. Soon afterwards, she is knocked down by a drunk driver who happens to be an engineer.

The engineer gets her a job at the place where he works, and discovers her knack for figures.

Fast-forward and Nombeko has managed to escape from South Africa and now lives in Sweden. But the melodrama of her life continues. Jonasson introduces us to twin brothers called Holger One and Holger Two, who operate a pillow company and have lived as one person since birth.

Holger One’s only mission in life is to depose the king of Sweden while his brother grows increasingly fed up of his life of non-existence.

Meanwhile, an obsessive, German-speaking Israeli intelligence agent tracks Nombeko down in Sweden. By this time, the story’s heroine has got tangled up with the Holgers.

It is up to the resourceful Nombeko to sort out the tangled mess created by all the people around her.

Told in the first person voice of Nombeko, the book takes a satirical look at social justice and world politics.

Jonasson draws on his many years of experience in journalism. Monarchies, communism, racism, colonialism and cold war politics are all discussed with irreverently humorous candour. The author sums up the Iraqi War by saying, “Bush later invaded Iraq in order to eliminate all the weapons Saddam Hussein didn’t have.”

The book has a cast of somewhat ludicrous characters, and a handful of real life personalities.

The plot moves along at a breathless pace, although the never-ending drama does get tiring at some points in the story.

Jonasson masterfully inserts witty turns of phrases such as, “Nombeko said that she was South African, and that she thought it sounded laborious to hate all Americans, given how many of them there were.”

This book is translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles from the author’s native Swedish, yet the humour and nuances have come through beautifully, keeping one laughing at every turn of the page.

Jonasson has a penchant for long-winded book titles. In 2009, he released his debut work The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, a hilarious bestseller about a centenarian who escapes from a retirement home.

Jonasson, 55, was previously a journalist, media consultant and a sporting events entrepreneur.

Although this is his second successful book, Jonasson has been criticised for the resemblance in its tone and style to its predecessor.