After the Fire by Henning Mankell"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."
Series: Fredrik Welin #2
Genres: Fiction
Also by this author: Italian Shoes
“After the Fire” is the second book in the Fredrik Welin fiction series (the first one is “Italian Shoes“) and it won the CWA International Dagger Award in 2018. I read it slowly and I wasn’t able to read anything else at the same time with this one (as I usually do). I really, truly enjoyed it!
“A person who has lost everything doesn’t have much time. Or perhaps the reverse is true. I didn’t know.”
“[…] a house and a home is like an outer skin for a human being.”
“Life guarantees nothing but constant risk. That also applies to having children.”
“[…] the smell of scandal lingers around most people who make a ridiculous amount of money.”
“‘I once read a quotation hanging on the wall of a carpenter’s workshop. It said that we shouldn’t take life seriously because we’re not going to survive it in any case.”
