After the Fire
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4.3 • 75 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Henning Mankell's last novel, about an aging man whose quiet, solitary life on an isolated island off the coast of Sweden is turned upside down when his house catches fire.
Fredrik Welin is a former surgeon who retired in disgrace decades earlier to a tiny island on which he is the only resident. He has a daughter he rarely sees and his mailman Jansson is the closest thing he has to a friend, and to an adversary. He is perfectly content to live out his days in quiet solitude.
One autumn evening, he is startled awake by a blinding light--only to discover that his house is on fire. With the help of Jansson, he escapes the flames just in time wearing two left boots. Dawn reveals that everything he owns is now a smoldering pile of ash and his house is destroyed--forcing him to move into an abandoned trailer on his island. A local journalist, Lisa Modin, who wants to write a story about the fire, comes into his life. In doing so, she awakens in him something that he thought was long dead. Soon after, his daughter comes to the island with surprising news of her own. Meanwhile, the police suspect Fredrik of arson because he had a sizable insurance claim on his house. When Fredrik is away from the archipelago, another house goes up in flames and the community realizes they have an arsonist in their midst. After the Fire is an intimate portrait of an elderly recluse who is forced to open himself up to a world he'd left behind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
On a rocky, remote private island in a Swedish archipelago, 70-year-old Fredrik Welin wakes to a searing light. He stumbles outside, recovering only a raincoat and two left boots on the way, and watches helplessly as his house burns to its foundations. This final novel from Mankell (the Kurt Wallander series), posthumously published in a stunning English translation, questions what happens to a person who has lost everything and who considers himself too old to rebuild. Fredrik hardly has time to grieve the memories that burned along with the house's contents; when investigators arrive to inspect the smoking ruins, they discover clear signs of arson. Could it be insurance fraud? Or does the responsibility lie with one of Fredrik's neighbors, whom he's known for years and who showed up in their boats to battle the flames? And how will Fredrik's daughter pregnant and harboring secrets of her own react to the loss of her inheritance? Mankell's understated yet thrilling use of language brings both the rugged scenery and Fredrik's deep-rooted loneliness to life. It's a skillfully told, exquisitely structured story filled with sharp insights into human nature and unflinching examinations of the complex relationships to which people bind themselves in order to feel a little bit less alone.
Customer Reviews
After the Fire by Henning Mankell
I thoroughly enjoyed this very different book by Mankell. However, I continued to wait for the mystery - maybe a murder.
It felt like a fictional memoir as did the Afterword. His descriptions of the characters & their behavior was unusual in my opinion. It was not unbelievable, but rather unfamiliar to me - I felt as if I learned about other ways that people behave.
Despite the strangeness of the people, behavior & happenings in the book, at the end it felt complete - as if things had resolved.
Overall, this was a surprising book by Mr Mankell & you might enjoy it also if you don’t spend too much time looking for, as opposed to, finding the mystery. Enjoy!