Italian Shoes

Starred review from February 23, 2009
A tragic operating room error has cost Swedish surgeon Fredrik Welin his career in this moving novel from Mankell, who's best known for his Kurt Wallander mystery series (Firewall
, etc.). Welin, 66, lives on a remote island with only his dog and cat for company. His routine is abruptly shattered by the arrival of an elderly woman who proves to be Harriet Hörnfeldt, the youthful love he ditched four decades earlier. Hörnfeldt, who's dying of cancer, has sought out Welin because she wants to share a secret about their relationship. This reintroduction to the world of human emotions and interactions proves to be the first of many, leading the doctor to an awkward attempt to get absolution from the woman whose perfectly healthy arm he mistakenly amputated. Mankell displays his considerable gifts for characterization as he succeeds in making his emotionally limited lead character sympathetic.

March 1, 2009
The creator of police detective Kurt Wallander presents a tale of mortal reckoning in which all the deaths are natural but none the less powerful.

After he lost his surgical license over a disastrous mistake, Fredrik Welin retired to a remote archipelago where he had only half a dozen neighbors and the three miles to the Swedish mainland were iced over when winter came. With his only company a dog, a cat and the anthill that's been taking shape for years in his living room, he ekes out a frozen life without letters, without regrets over his two failed marriages and, evidently, without much thought for anything except the cold. He scorns the discount coupons the postal carrier brings him:"Life is basically about something more important. I don't know what exactly." All that changes with the unexpected, unwanted arrival of Harriet Hörnfeldt, the lover Welin abandoned a generation ago when he left for an American post without a word of farewell. The fatally ill Harriet's demand that Welin take her to see the forest pool he'd described to her so long ago is only the first stage in a journey that will break up the ice that's armored Welin's heart for so long. His newfound, urgent and troubled return to the world of others will involve a homeless spaniel on the mainland; an Italian craftsman who takes four months to make a pair of shoes; a fraught meeting with Harriet's daughter; a reunion with the patient whose life he ruined; and an Iranian refugee girl who's nothing but trouble, even to herself. The tone throughout is elegiac—someone always seems to be dying, even as Welin is surging back to life—yet quietly hopeful, with each step forward a hard-won victory over winter's freeze.

Mankell (The Eye of the Leopard, 2008, etc.) provides a moving test of Welin's belief that"people are close to each other so that they can be parted."

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 15, 2009
Fredrik Welin is a reclusive ex-surgeon living alone on a tiny island in the north of Sweden. His only companions are a pair of aged pets, and the only society callers to his living room are ants that are transforming his table into an enormous anthill. Every morning, the loner goes out to the frozen lake, cuts a hole in the ice, and then plunges himself into the freezing water to remind himself that he is still alive. Four women enter his life: Harriet, his ex, whom he abandoned years ago; Louise, his unknown daughter; Agnes Klarstrom, the patient who ended his medical career; and Sima, a troubled young woman. By the end of the story, Fredrik no longer takes an icy morning bath to validate his existence; he has undergone redemption with the help of these women. Mankell, the author of the award-winning Kurt Wallander mystery novels, has an ability to create an intimate atmosphere that places the reader directly into the world of his characters, which is nothing short of brilliant.Lisa Rohrbaugh, New Middletown, OH

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2009
Mankell continues to write literary fiction in addition to his popular crime series starring Swedish policeman Kurt Wallander. This time he tells the story of a lonely old man living alone on an isolated island. Why is former surgeon Fredrik Welin hiding on his grandparents island? Can anything break him loose from his self-imposed exile? These two questions guide this short, beautiful, and ultimately life-affirming novel, as first one woman and then another enter Fredriks island prison. It starts with Harriet, the girlfriend he abandoned more than 30 years before, who suddenly appears on the frozen bay clinging to a walker. Mankells Kurt Wallander readers will appreciate his use of the themes of decay and danger in modern Swedish society, here represented by the dying island communities and the algae-clogged Baltic Sea. This complex novel also addresses themes of redemption and self-understanding, similar to Mankells Eye of the Leopard (2008) and Kennedys Brain (2007). The premise and tone also suggest Norwegian author Per Pettersons Out Stealing Horses (2007). Mankells increasing popularity makes this a good choice for all public libraries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)