After the Fire

The story of a seventy years old doctor who retired in disgrace and went to live in a remote Island in Sweden doesn't sound too interesting. When the house his grandparents built burns down and he narrowly escapes death it begins to sound more so. But this is not your standard .crime novel. The arson and presumably attempted murder are side issues. The main theme is the effect the fire has on Fredrik. It starts his ruminations on his life so far and what the future holds and death. His troubled past with the daughter he only discovered existed at a late stage in her life comes to the fore as she returns bringing with her many problems to add to his.This is the story of his rebuilding a relationship with her and also of his relationships with a younger woman, a journalist he meets as a result of the fires and with his old "friends" in the archipelago. There are many subplots as well before the final "optimistic" conclusion.
I found this an extraordinary description of love, regrets and above all loneliness.
It was, as with all Mankell's work, well written and plotted. An added bonus is the beautiful descriptions of the archipelago..

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!