In Chap­ter 4 of “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” Lis­beth Salan­der returns to Stock­holm after a long and uncom­fort­able jour­ney, which includ­ed an extend­ed delay in Bar­ba­dos due to air­port secu­ri­ty con­cerns. Arriv­ing at Arlan­da Air­port, she express­es a mix of weari­ness and exhil­a­ra­tion at being back home, peek­ing into her new­found wealth after pulling off a fraud­u­lent coup. After ini­tial­ly giv­ing her old address to the taxi dri­ver, she ulti­mate­ly directs him to her new home on Göt­gats­back­en and set­tles in after a brief shop­ping trip at a near­by 7‑Eleven for neces­si­ties.

As the chap­ter unfolds, Salan­der reflects on her past liv­ing arrange­ments, reveal­ing her dis­sat­is­fac­tion with her pre­vi­ous cramped apart­ment on Lunda­gatan, where she had been under guardian­ship until turn­ing eigh­teen. Now, with her sub­stan­tial for­tune, Salan­der con­sid­ers the qual­i­ties she wants in her new apartment—namely, a good view, space, a bal­cony, and aes­thet­ic com­fort. She grap­ples with the pecu­liar­i­ties of the real estate mar­ket, feel­ing inex­pe­ri­enced and uncer­tain about the process of buy­ing prop­er­ty, as shown by her awk­ward vis­its to open hous­es.

She even­tu­al­ly decides on a spa­cious apart­ment near Mose­backe Torg, pre­vi­ous­ly owned by a wealthy for­mer exec­u­tive. After secur­ing this prop­er­ty, she takes time to explore her options, reveal­ing a glimpse into her emo­tion­al strug­gles relat­ed to her past rela­tion­ships, espe­cial­ly with Mikael Blomkvist, and her com­pli­cat­ed feel­ings towards the world around her.

Fol­low­ing a brief peri­od of adjust­ing to her new real­i­ty, Salan­der spends time reflect­ing on her lack­lus­tre con­nec­tions in Stock­holm, aside from her respect for her for­mer employ­er, Arman­sky. As she feels trapped by per­son­al his­to­ries, Salan­der con­sid­ers dis­tant trav­els to escape her old life. This con­tem­pla­tion trig­gers a resolve to break away from her famil­iar sur­round­ings, which cul­mi­nates in her impul­sive deci­sion to trav­el, mark­ing the end of the chap­ter on a note of rest­less­ness and trans­for­ma­tion.

Ulti­mate­ly, the chap­ter delves into themes of iden­ti­ty, belong­ing, and the weight of past expe­ri­ences while paint­ing a vivid por­trait of Salan­der’s life as she re-estab­lish­es her­self in Stock­holm and begins to plan her future.