After the Fire
by Henning Mankell
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Pub Date Oct 05 2017 | Archive Date Sep 30 2018
Random House UK, Vintage Publishing | Harvill Secker
Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER 2018
Shortlisted for the Petrona Award 2018 for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year
The last novel from international crime bestseller Henning Mankell. A brilliant and moving mystery set in the Swedish archipelago.
Fredrik Welin is a seventy-year-old retired doctor. Years ago he retreated to the Swedish archipelago, where he lives alone on an island. He swims in the sea every day, cutting a hole in the ice if necessary. He lives a quiet life. Until he wakes up one night to find his house on fire.
Fredrik escapes just in time, wearing two left-footed wellies, as neighbouring islanders arrive to help douse the flames. All that remains in the morning is a stinking ruin and evidence of arson. The house that has been in his family for generations and all his worldly belongings are gone. He cannot think who would do such a thing, or why. Without a suspect, the police begin to think he started the fire himself.
Tackling love, loss and loneliness, After the Fire is Henning Mankell’s compelling last novel.
Advance Praise
'This strange, beguiling book...gives closure to a substantial career without becoming maudlin or overly bleak. The waters around Welin’s island may freeze in the winter, but there is human warmth to be found in these pages, along with glimmers of hope and consolation... The bell may have tolled for one of Scandinavia’s finest writers, but his connection to those left behind is unbroken’ - IAN RANKIN
'This profoundly gloomy yet ultimately hopeful novel – the last from the late grand master of Scandinavian noir – revolves around discovering who could have been responsible for this senseless crime’ - MAIL ON SUNDAY
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781910701768 |
| PRICE | £17.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 416 |
Featured Reviews
Kevin M, Reviewer
If you’re familiar with Mankell’s Detective, Wallander, there’s something both comfortably familiar and refreshingly different about this book. Mankell displays a truly rare gift in describing the seemingly trivial inconsequentialities of the main character’s life without the reader wondering where the story is heading or what the relevance of the events described might be. This artfully crafted novel develops against a backdrop involving a muted story surrounding life in an isolated community in the Swedish archipelago that is disturbed by a series of arson attacks starting in the home of the lead character. Whilst there is a perfectly satisfactory story for the reader to follow that stands on its own, the book may be better seen as an almost elegiac review of the lead character’s life that wraps around the events surrounding the arson attacks and the unusual but strangely credible happenings in his personal life. The wistful and strongly felt remembrances of episodes from the lead character’s earlier life beautifully capture the bitter sweet feelings of a person realising that they are in the final chapters of a long life. Highly recommended!
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