The Girl Who Played with Fire is the second novel in the best-selling Millennium series by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, who died in 2004. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009.
This 699-page, 8.5x11-inch uncorrected proof features many of the characters who appeared in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005), among them the title character, Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant computer hacker and social misfit, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of Millennium magazine.
This softbound copy, dated May 15, 2006, predates the official release of the book in English, January 2009, the same year that the second Swedish film in the trilogy was released. No other proof of Larsson's novel we've seen offered comes close to this early release and thus would be a unique addition to any Larsson collection.
Adding to its unique quality are the names "Larsson/Murray" at the top of each page to indicate the author and the original English translator, Steven Murray. After the book was translated (reportedly very quickly so as to be shopped around Hollywood), it was heavily revised by editor Christopher MacLehose. Larsson's companion (and suspected co-writer) and Murray were so unhappy with this edited version that Murray took his name off the book and was then after credited as Reg Keeland.
This copy was apparently created for or by UTA, United Talent Agency, one of the largest agencies that represents actors, writers, directors, producers, etc., in offices around the world. It was probably printed to shop around to potential producers or actors.