Author: Henning Mankell

This is a Young Adult novel, although I found it on the shelves with the other Mankell books. Henning Mankell is better known for his Wallander series and, until recently, I didn’t know he wrote anything else.

To be honest, I enjoyed this book more than I did the previous non-Wallander book. Although it is clearly aimed at a younger audience, the story was interesting. Joel’s mother left shortly after Joel was born; he and his father lead a rather sparse life in a small Swedish town. Joel’s father gave up life as an able seaman when Joel was born, and they both dream of returning to the sea.

This is the first in a series of three books where Joel is the central character.

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