Daniel - Softcover

Mankell, Henning

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099563665 ISBN 13: 9780099563662

Publisher: Vintage, 2011

Synopsis

In 1878, aspiring entomologist Hans Bengler travels to the Kalahari Desert in hopes of making a name for himself by discovering a previously unknown insect or two. There he encounters a boy named Molo, an orphan whose family has been killed by European colonists. Bengler "civilizes" the boy by rechristening him Daniel, teaching him to pray to the Christian god, and finally bringing him home to Sweden. The boy is bewildered and awed by the new land, cut off from his culture and the spirits of his family, and Bengler finds that raising a child across a great cultural divide is more difficult than he imagined. A psychological drama of one boy's struggle to find his place in a new land far from home, "Daniel" is a compelling novel for our modern globalized world.

About this title

Review:

"Mankell writes lead travel feature on Mozambique, credits novel" (Guardian)

"Henning Mankell reviews the new John le Carre (Daniel is credited)" (Saturday Telegraph Review)

"4*, It's an acutely observed and slow-burning psychological thriller, written with Mankell's typically detached prose, making the violently tragic end all the more powerful." (Big Issue Scotland)

"Mankell pulls no punches in this bleak but brilliant examination of misguided humanism." (Metro)

"3*, Many a crime writer has been cast adrift after retiring a signature character but there was never any danger of that with Mankell. He was always, above all, a consummate novelist. [...] a powerfully involving and uncompromising novel about the loss of childhood and innocence." (Daily Express)

Book Description:

A compelling story of a child driven to violence through loss and loneliness

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0099563665
• ISBN 13: 9780099563662
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352