Flat lay of Scandinavian fiction books against textiles.

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Reading lists

10 must-read Scandinavian novels

Quicksand

A fascinating memoir-of-sorts from the legendary writer &amp; campaigner for human rights: Quicksand is a collection of micro-essays exploring what it is to be human, covering topics as varied as Henning's cancer diagnosis, art, jealousy, Ice Ages past and present, and the future of our planet

An extraordinarily moving book… The chief strength of this book – and what makes it such a beautiful, moving document – is in the descriptions that Mankell gives of the joy and suffering he has seen, especially in Africa… Throughout Quicksand, there are scenes [of] joy and triumph in the midst of suffering and loss. This grave book, intensely beautiful in spirit, takes us to these places in the thoughtful company of a great soul

An honourable, courageous piece of work… A work of considerable scope… A remarkable man

An extraordinary book, mixing the intimate detail of memoir (the incidents from his childhood and early life are told beautifully, and with wonderful economy) with the moral beliefs of a man whose concern with social justice has dictated the pattern of his mature years. At times Mankell can sound like a latter-day Seneca, and he brings the same gravitas and moral authority to bear on his arguments… A deeply serious, and highly uplifting book…profoundly moving.

Quicksand, a hybrid of essay and memoir, reflects knowledgeably on art, religion, childhood and the “final insensibility” that is our dying. Rarely has a writer contemplated the mystery of the end of life with such a wide-ranging curiosity

Quicksand…defines life not by its ending but by the creative and humanitarian content that filled — and fulfilled — Mankell’s life

Quicksand, Mankell’s final book, is his most excoriating indictment of human folly… An extremely moving swansong

A deeply sombre book… Fans of Mankell’s magnificently gloomy fiction will have no difficulty in recognising the blueprint for his literary alter ego, Kurt Wallander… Compelling

Although written in the final year of his life…the result is uplifting and, as a memoir, as unusual a creation as his Nordic detective, Kurt Wallander

A collection of essays that are not limited to his illness, but enriched by it.

Mankell confronts his own mortality with moving intelligence and honesty, meditating on vast spans of time that cannot be fully apprehended by intellect or imagination, from the last ice age to the ones to come, and from the earliest civilisations to modern society.

Delivered in a no-nonsense style, never striving for melodrama or controversy…making us think deeply about what it means to live, and to die, as a result.

In calm, limpid writing [Mankell] contemplates his illness – cancer – but is determined to hold on to the good things in life.

The effect is more like poetry than prose, as we are transported from cave paintings to motorways, seedy hotels to dazzling cathedrals, hospital wards to the Louvre, the Prado, the Thassos ampitheatre.

Although written in the final year of his life, after his diagnosis with cancer, the result is uplifting and, as a memoir, as unusual a creation as his Nordic detective, Kurt Wallander.

In January 2014 Henning Mankell was informed that he had cancer. 
 
 However, Quicksand is not a book about death, but about what it means to be human. Mankell writes about love and jealousy, courage and fear, about what it is like to live with a fatal illness. 
 
 This book is also about why the cave painters 40,000 years ago chose the very darkest places for their fascinating pictures. And about the dreadful troll that we are trying to lock away inside the bedrock of a Swedish mountain for the next 100,000 years. 
 
 It is a book about how humanity has lived and continues to live, and about how Henning lived his own life. 
 
 And, not least, about the great zest for life, which came back when he managed to drag himself out of the quicksand that threatened to suck him down into the abyss.

I Die, But The Memory Lives On

A powerful, moving and tragic account of the families shattered and children abandoned as a result of the spread of HIV and, through the Memory Books project, a hope for the future.

Henning Mankell (1948-2015) became a worldwide phenomenon with his crime writing, gripping thrillers and atmospheric novels set in Africa. His prizewinning and critically acclaimed Inspector Wallander Mysteries continue to dominate bestseller lists all over the globe and his books have been translated into forty-five languages and made into numerous international film and television adaptations: most recently the BAFTA-award-winning BBC television series Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh. 
 
Driven by a desire to change the world and to fight against racism and nationalism, Mankell devoted much of his time to working with charities in Africa, including SOS Children’s Villages and PLAN International, where he was also director of the Teatro Avenida in Maputo. In 2008, the University of St Andrews conferred Henning Mankell with an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in recognition of his major contribution to literature and to the practical exercise of conscience. 
 
www.henningmankell.com

The problem of Aids has been kept largely under control in Europe, but in the Third World it is a different story. There is a devestating lack of resources for medicine and for education. When parents die at a young age, children are left behind with no-one to teach them how to avoid the same fate, and so the cycle continues. 
 
Memory Books could prove to be the most important documents in our time in answer to this crisis. When the official reports have been filed away, these slim volumes, memories recorded by those who died too soon, will remain. Through a combination of words and drawings, they can have a legacy, a hope that future generations may not suffer the same heartbreaking fate. 
 
Henning Mankell is not a public figure in the way politicians are, but he has achieved cult success with his Kurt Wallander novels and is noted for the social and moral questions raised by his fiction. He devotes much of his time to work with Aids charities. 
 
I Die But the Memory Lives on is a fable illustrating the importance of books as a means of education, of preserving memories and of sharing life. In the midst of death and suffering, a young girl plants a tree. She nurtures it as a fragment of life that will grow and survive and, like the Memory Books, outlive this global crisis. Mankell, by highlighting and humanising this catastrophe, proposes a way to help.

An Event in Autumn

Never before published in English, this Kurt Wallander novella sees the original Scandinavian detective uncovering the skeleton of a woman in a suburban garden - forcing him to delve into the area's dark past...

An absolute pleasure to read and one worth luxuriating in

Wallander remains one of the most impressive and credible creations in crime fiction today

Good news for those suffering Wallander withdrawal symptoms

This beautifully crafted story will grab you and it will not let go

A final precious gobbet for those of us who aren’t ready for Inspector Wallander’s story to come to an end

Mankell is undoubtedly a skilled writer with plenty of breadth, but it’s clear that his subtleties of character, plot and pace achieve greatest expression in the Wallander series

Wallander is among the very best fictional crimebusters

The real test of thrillers of this kind is whether you want to spend time in the detective's company. I certainly do

Some cases aren’t as cold as you’d think 
 
Kurt Wallander’s life looks like it has taken a turn for the better when his offer on a new house is accepted, only for him to uncover something unexpected in the garden – the skeleton of a middle-aged woman. 
 
As police officers comb the property, Wallander attempts to get his new life back on course by finding the woman’s killer with the aid of his daughter, Linda. But when another discovery is made in the garden, Wallander is forced to delve further back into the area's past. 
 
A treat for fans and new readers alike, this is a never before published Kurt Wallander novella

Wallander's First Case

Kurt Wallander is twenty one and new to the police force - and he won't let anything stand in the way of solving his first murder case

Mankell is the master of Scandinavian crime, much imitated, never bettered

Kurt Wallander is twenty one and new to the police force - and he won't let anything stand in the way of solving his first murder case 
 
Wallander finds his neighbour dead: a revolver in his hand, and a bullet through his head. 
 
Suspicious about the circumstances surrounding the apparently open and shut case of suicide, Wallander starts an off-the-books investigation - only to find that following his instincts is a very dangerous thing to do. 
 
Discover the case that began Kurt Wallander's career - first published in The Pyramid, a collection of short stories featuring Wallander. 
 
OUT NOW: An Event in Autumn - a new, never before published Wallander novella.

A Treacherous Paradise

From the master of thriller writing, comes a sweeping historical novel based on the true story of a Swedish woman who ran the most famous brothel in Mozambique: a gripping and thought-provoking read

Mankell uses his deep knowledge of Mozambique’s history and politics to great advantage in this unusual and riveting story

Mankell is the master. Let’s be honest: I hate thrillers. But I love Mankell

Profound and compelling… Paints a convincing and poignant picture

A Treacherous Paradise sees Henning Mankell turn his talents for writing gripping thrillers to a world where power and powerlessness meet and passion is a dangerous commodity. 
 
Hanna Lundmark escapes the brutal poverty of rural Sweden for a job as a cook onboard a steamship headed for Australia. Jumping ship at the African port of Lourenço Marques, Hanna decides to begin her life afresh. 
 
Stumbling across what she believes to be a down-at-heel hotel, Hanna becomes embroiled in a sequence of events that lead to her inheriting the most successful brothel in town. Uncomfortable with the attitudes of the white settlers, Hanna is determined to befriend the prostitutes working for her, and change life in the town for the better, but the distrust between blacks and whites, and the shadow of colonialism, lead to tragedy and murder.

The Shadow Girls

The inspirational tale of a writer who finds himself caught up in the extraordinary stories of three young immigrant girls in Sweden by the 'Swedish John le Carre', Henning Mankell

Mankell writes with both a social conscience and great humour…it is both passionate and entertaining, and a strong indication that the Swedes are not as lugubrious as their crime fiction makes them out to be

Three girls escaping horror and hardship to make new lives in Sweden become the inspiration for troubled poet Jesper. But Mankell is too clever and cunning an author to go down any predictable path. Inspirational

This quirky offering sets out to tackle the weighty topics of immigration and how refugees affect Swedish society

Mankell is giving a voice to those who do not possess one. Some may feel that there are two kinds of novel here, which remain obstinately heterogeneous. But such is Mankell’s skill that we surrender to whatever mode the book settles into – and it might be argued that the comic sugaring of the pill in The Shadow Girls makes the hidden agenda all the more potent

As we are drawn into the shadow world of immigrant life in Sweden, Mankell’s blend of comedy and moving drama provides a voice for those who lose theirs on their journey from oppression to imagined freedom; freedom which is often transient and blighted with prejudice and racism

A passionate and enjoyable tale that intertwines the story of a failed writer with those of the refugee women to whom he teaches creative writing

Mankell adroitly mixes cheerful satire and harrowing detail, and this hymn to the mistreated and marginalised sparks with passion

Tea-Bag, a young Nigerian girl, has fled a refugee camp in Spain for the promise of a new life in Sweden. Tania has made a long and dangerous journey to escape themisery of life in a brothel. Leila has travelled with her family from Iran. All of them are facing different challenges in their new home. 
 
Meanwhile, celebrated poet Jesper Humlin is looking for inspiration. Harried by his mother and girlfriend, misunderstood by his publisher and tormented by his stockbroker, Jesper needs a new perspective on life. A chance encounter with Tea-Bag leads him into the shadow world of the immigrant experience in Sweden. Initially he sees the girls purely as material for his work, but they have very different ideas. 
 
This inspiring novel encompasses both humour and tragedy and illuminates our understanding of those left on the margins of our society.

Henning Mankell

Marlaine Delargy

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.

A powerful reminder that [Mankell] was also a literary writer of considerable accomplishment... After the Fire is a life-enhancing novel... a suitable final curtain for a much-missed modern novelist

The novel’s atmosphere is bleak and elegiac, suggesting that Mankell wrote it with his own impending death in mind

After the Fire is full of regret, loneliness and the melancholy of growing old, but there is also hope and love.

This posthumous translation by Marlaine Delargy, captivating in its delicately wry tone, echoes the seemingly flat reportage of Mankell’s prose: it somehow grabs you and won’t let you go… Mankell’s last novel is an elegiac meditation on old age and impending death… The extraordinary gift of Mankell’s bleak narrative is to make the last months of the life of his depressed and, frankly, unsympathetic and solitary anti-hero, both comforting and even inspiring. It is Mankell’s own candle in the lightless void

The huge number of readers who are devoted to the work of the late Henning Mankell will find in this, his last novel, all the characteristics they value: the observant descriptions of the minutiae of daily life, the gentle melancholy, the careful analysis of relationships (especially between fathers and daughters) and, above all, the inevitability of loneliness and loss

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

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... 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.

A bracing look at a twilight year in the life of an old man who, when confronted daily by perfectly good reasons for giving up altogether, doesn’t so much rise above as plow stoically through them.

Lovely… Elegiac and steeped in the emptiness of the Swedish landscape

LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER 2018 
 
The final novel from the bestselling author of the Inspector Wallander mysteries 
 
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.

Henning Mankell

Praise for After the Fire

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 thes ...

A powerful reminder that [Mankell] was also a literary writer of considerable accomplishment... After the Fire is a life-enhancing novel... a suitable final curtain for a much-missed modern novelist

It is very moving and rather beautiful

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 thes ...

A powerful reminder that [Mankell] was also a literary writer of considerable accomplishment... After the Fire is a life-enhancing novel... a suitable final curtain for a much-missed modern novelist

It is very moving and rather beautiful

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 thes ...

A powerful reminder that [Mankell] was also a literary writer of considerable accomplishment... After the Fire is a life-enhancing novel... a suitable final curtain for a much-missed modern novelist

It is very moving and rather beautiful

Books by Henning Mankell

Series by Henning Mankell

Kurt Wallander

Articles featuring Henning Mankell

10 must-read Scandinavian novels

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