Henning Mankell - The Man from Beijing

Table of Contents

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Epub ISBN: 9781409089438

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Published by Harvill Secker 2010

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Copyright Henning Mankell 2008 English translation copyright Laurie Thompson 2010

Henning Mankell has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

First published with the title Kinesen in 2008

by Leopard Frlag, Stockholm in arrangement with

Leonhardt & Hier Literary Agency, Copenhagen

First published in Great Britain in 2010 by

HARVILL SECKER

Random House

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ISBN 9781846552571 (hardback)

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Also by Henning Mankell

Kurt Wallander Series

FACELESS KILLERS

THE DOGS OF RIGA THE WHITE LIONESS

THE MAN WHO SMILED SIDETRACKED THE FIFTH WOMAN

ONE STEP BEHIND FIREWALL

BEFORE THE FROST

THE PYRAMID

Fiction

THE RETURN OF THE DANCING MASTER

CHRONICLER OF THE WINDS

DEPTHS

KENNEDY'S BRAIN

THE EYE OF THE LEOPARD

ITALIAN SHOES

Non-fiction

I DIE, BUT THE MEMORY LIVES ON

Young Adult Fiction

A BRIDGE TO THE STARS

SHADOWS IN THE TWILIGHT

WHEN THE SNOW FELL

THE JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE WORLD Childrens Fiction

THE CAT WHO LIKED RAIN

Contents

PART 1

The Silence (2006)

I, Birgitta Roslin, do solemnly declare that I shall endeavour to the best of my knowledge and in accordance with my conscience to pass judgement without fear or favour, be the accused rich or poor, and according to the laws and statutes of Sweden; never to pervert the law nor to promote wrongdoing on grounds of family connections, friendship, jealousy, malevolence, or fear, nor in response to bribes or gifts or for any other reason of no matter what nature; never to impute guilt where there is innocence, nor innocence where there is guilt. I shall never reveal to those who appear in court, neither before nor after judgement is passed, deliberations that have taken place behind closed doors. As an honest and sincere judge I shall endeavour always to adhere to this solemn oath. Code of Judicial Procedure, Ch. 4, 11, Judicial Oath

The Epitaph

Frozen snow, severe frost. Midwinter.

Early in January 2006 a lone wolf crosses the unmarked border and enters Sweden from Vauldalen in Norway. A man on a snowmobile thinks he might have glimpsed it just outside Fjllns, but the wolf vanishes into the trees heading east before he is able to pinpoint it. In the remote Norwegian sterdalarna Mountains it had discovered a lump of frozen moose carcass, with remnants of meat still clinging to the bones. But that was more than two days ago. It is beginning to feel the pain of hunger and is desperately searching for food.

The wolf is a young male that has set out to find a territory of his own. He continues his way eastward. At Nvjarna, north of Linsell, he finds another moose carcass. For a whole day he stays and eats his fill before resuming his trek east. When he comes to Krble he trots over the frozen Ljusnan and then follows the river along its winding route towards the sea. One moonless night he lopes silently over the bridge at Jrvs, then heads into the vast forests that stretch to the coast.

In the early morning of 13 January the wolf reaches Hesjvallen, a tiny village south of Hansesjn Lake in Hlsingland. He pauses and sniffs the air. He detects the smell of blood. He looks around. There are people living in the houses but no smoke rising from the chimneys. His sharp ears cant detect the slightest sound.

But the wolf is in no doubt about the blood. He skulks at the edge of the forest, nose in the air. Then he moves forward, silently, through the snow. The smell comes from one of the houses at the far end of the hamlet. He is vigilant now with humans around its essential to be both careful and patient. He pauses again. The smell originates from the back of the house. He waits. Then eventually starts moving once more. When he gets there he finds another carcass. He drags his large meal back to the trees. He has not been discovered, not even the village dogs have stirred. The silence is total this freezing cold morning.

The wolf starts eating when he comes to the edge of the trees. It is easy, as the flesh has not yet frozen. He is very hungry now. Having pulled off a leather shoe, he starts gnawing away at an ankle.

It snowed during the night but stopped before dawn. As the wolf eats his fill, snowflakes once again start dancing down towards the frozen ground.

When Karsten Hglin woke up he remembered dreaming about a photograph. He lay motionless in bed and felt the image returning slowly, as if the negative of his dream were sending a copy into his conscious mind. He recognised the picture. It was black and white and depicted a man sitting on an old iron bed, with a hunting rifle hanging on the wall and a chamber pot at his feet. When he saw it for the first time, he had been gripped by the old mans wistful smile. There was something timorous and evasive about him. Much later Karsten had discovered the background. A few years earlier the man had accidentally shot and killed his only son while hunting seabirds. From then on the rifle had never come down from the wall, and the man had become a hermit.

Hglin thought that of all the thousands of photographs and negatives he had seen, this was the one he would never forget. He wished he had taken it himself.

The clock on his bedside table read half past seven. Hglin usually woke up very early, but he had slept badly that night, the bed and its mattress were uncomfortable. He made up his mind to complain about them when he checked out of the hotel.

It was the ninth and final day of his journey. It had been made possible by a scholarship enabling him to study deserted villages and other small settlements that were being depopulated. He had come as far as Hudiksvall and had one hamlet left to photograph. He had chosen this particular one because an old man who lived there had read about his project and sent him a letter. Hglin had been impressed by the letter and decided that this was the place for him to conclude his study.

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