Italian Shoes

Italian Shoes (Italienska skor in Swedish) is Henning Mankell’s 26th novel since his debut in 1973. The book is a journey in the outside as well as in the inside.

It is winter in one of the first years of the 21st century. On an island in the outskirts of the archipelago Fredrik lives his life in a big silence, in the only company of his dog and his cat, and an ant-hill in his living-room. A dark secret, a fatal mistake, has turned him into a reserved recluse.

One morning, he notices a woman with a walker standing on the ice. It is Harriet, the woman he let down over 30 years ago, whom he left without a word. Now, when she is about to die, she demands that he fulfills the promise he once gave her: To take her with him to a distant forest lake, where they should swim together once they had married.

This is the beginning of a strange and upsetting journey, which in many ways comes to surprise Fredrik. Not the least, he is confronted with the daughter he never knew about. The journey through the wintery Sweden turns out to be as much a journey in his own life, which forces him to see who he really is.

It also gives him the possibility to, once and for all, take responsibility for the catastrophe he has caused and which changed the life of himself and others.

At the time of writing it is not known when this title will be translated into other languages.

Italienska skor by Henning Mankell was first published in Swedish by Leopard Publishing House in September, 2006.

Updated: October 16, 2006.