Eva Gabrielsson was Stieg Larsson’s longtime partner and his collaborator on the wildly popular and internationally bestselling series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. After Larsson's unexpected death in 2004, she learned that due to an obscure bit of Swedish inheritance law, their work was no longer under her control. Forced to rebuild her life during a protracted and ongoing legal battle, Gabrielsson wrote a memoir, There Are Things I Want You To Know about Stieg Larsson and Me. In anticipation of her conversation about the book with Roy Eisenhardt at Herbst Theater on Monday night, she stole time from her travel schedule to answer a few questions by email for 7x7.

What is one of the more unexpected things your memoir says about the creation of the books?

The books started out of boredom. We were on vacation and he was pacing around with nothing to do. He said he had been thinking about a short piece he wrote in 1997 about a man who receives a flower in the mail each Christmas. He was wondering if there was more to that story, what was really going on.  

How do you move forward with your life after losing your partner?

Everyone first of all survives, and second lives again. I had to do what most married couples don't have to do. I had to rebuild my life. I had to start from scratch, more or less. The five stages of grief don't come in stages, they come all at once, and then you move backwards and forwards through them.

What did you love most about Mr. Larsson and about the work you created together?

His curiosity and his enthusiasm. It didn't matter what we were doing, he approached everything with enthusiasm. The essence of the book is about empowering people. It all starts with one person who has a brilliant idea and works at it.

June 27. City Arts and Lectures, Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness Ave. Tickets are $23 at 415-392-4400 or cityboxoffice.com.