A Treacherous Paradise (Random House Large Print) - Softcover

Mankell, Henning

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804120986 ISBN 13: 9780804120982

Publisher: Random House Large Print, 2013

Synopsis

From the internationally acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander crime novels, a powerful stand-alone novel set in early-twentieth-century Sweden and Mozambique, whose vividly drawn female protagonist is awoken from her naïveté by her exposure to racism and by her own unexpected inner strengths.

Cold and poverty define Hanna Renström’s childhood in remote northern Sweden, and in 1904, at nineteen, she boards a ship for Australia in hope of a better life. But none of her hopes—or fears—prepares her for the life she will lead. After two brief marriages both leave her widowed, she finds herself the owner of a bordello in Portuguese East Africa, a world where colonialism and white colonists rule, where she is isolated within white society by her profession and her gender, and, among the bordello’s black prostitutes, by her color. As Hanna’s story unfurls over the next several years in this “treacherous paradise,” she wrestles with a devastating loneliness and with the racism she’s meant to unthinkingly adopt. And as her life becomes increasingly intertwined with the prostitutes’, she moves inexorably toward the moment when she will make a decision that defies all the expectations society has of her and, more important, those she has of herself.

Gripping in its drama, evocative and searing in its portrait of colonial Africa, A Treacherous Paradise is, at its heart, a deeply moving story of a woman who manages to wrench wisdom, empathy, and grace from the most unforgiving circumstances.

About this title

Review:

"A sensuous, beguiling tapestry" (William Boyd New York Times)

"Timelessly resonant" (Independent)

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

"Mankell is the master. Let’s be honest: I hate thrillers. But I love Mankell" (Viv Groskop Red Magazine)

"Profound and compelling... Paints a convincing and poignant picture" (Good Book Guide)

Book Description:

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Large Print
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0804120986
• ISBN 13: 9780804120982
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 523