Daniel
By: Henning Mankell ; translated from the Swedish by Steven T. Murray
Contributors: Murray, Steven T.
Publisher: The New Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 279
ISBN-13: 9781595581938
Subjects: Boys; Africans; San (African people); Fiction
Work titles: Vindens son
Description: In the 1870s, Hans Bengler arrives in Cape Town from Sweden, driven by a singular desire: to discover an insect no one has seen before and name it after himself. But then he impulsively adopts a young San orphan, a boy he christens Daniel and brings with him back to Sweden--a quite different specimen than he first contemplated. Daniel is told to call Bengler "Father," taught to knock on doors and bow, and continually struggles to understand this strange new land of mud and snow that surrounds and seemingly entraps him. At the same time, he is haunted by visions of his murdered parents calling him home to Africa. Knowing that the only way home is by sea, he decides he must learn to walk on water if he is ever to reclaim his true place in the world.
Notes: Originally published in Swedish as Vindens son.